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Toby Tyler 

or 

Ten Weeks with a Circus 


By JAMES OTIS 


ILLUSTRATED 



> > 
■> * 

? -> j 


NEW YORK AND LONDON 


HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 


1902 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by 
HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


4 U rights reserved. 


am. 

MR. HUTCH FSOh* 


CONTENTS 


Chap. Pagb 

I. Toby’s Introduction to the Circus... 9 

II. Toby Runs Away from Home 20 

III. The Night Ride 31 

IV. The First Day with the Circus 42 

V. The Counterfeit Ten-Cent Piece 54 

VI. A Tender-hearted Skeleton „„ 66 

VII. An Accident and its Consequences 82 

VIII. Capture of the Monkeys 93 

IX. The Dinner-Party 102 

X. Mr. Stubbs at a Party 118 

XI. A Stormy Night 131 

XII. Toby’s Great Misfortune 143 

XIII. Toby Attempts to Resign his Situation 156 

XIV. Mr. Castle Teaches Toby to Ride 169 

XV. Toby’s Friends Present him with a Costume 184 

XVI. Toby’s First Appearance in the Ring 197 

XVII. Off for Home! 211 

XVIII. A Day of Freedom 229 

XIX. Mr. Stubbs’s Mischief, and his Sad Fate 239 

XX. Home and Uncle Daniel 252 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 

Breakfast in the Woods Frontispiece 

Toby Strikes a Bargain 11 

Toby and his New Friend 27 

Toby’s First Night Ride 33 

Old Ben Comes to the Rescue 47 

“Won’t you Please Give me the Money Back?” 59 

Toby Gets his Supper 73 

Job Lord Learns a Lesson 79 

The Break-down, and Escape of the Monkeys 89 

Bringing Back the Runaways 97 

Toby is Introduced to the Albinos Ill 

Toby Sits Down on Mr. Stubbs 127 

Toby in the “Women’s Wagon” 135 

Mr. Stubbs and Toby’s Money 151 

Toby and the Little Boy Customers 1G5 

The First Lesson 173 

Ella and Toby '. 187 

Mademoiselle Jeannette and Monsieur Ajax 205 

The Runaways 225 

“How I Love you, Mr. Stubbs!” 249 

Uncle Daniel’s Blessing 263 







TOBY TYLER; 

OR, 

TEN WEEKS WITH A CIRCUS. 


Chapter I. 



TOBY’S INTRODUCTION TO THE CIRCUS. 

WOULDN’T you give more’n six pea-nuts for a 
cent ?” was a question asked by a very small boy, 
with big, staring eyes, of a candy vender at a cir- 
cus booth. And as he spoke he looked wistfully 
at the quantity of nuts piled high up on the basket, and 
then at the six, each of which now looked so small as he 
held them in his hand. 

“ Couldn’t do it,” was the reply of the proprietor of the 
booth, as he put the boy’s penny carefully away in the 
drawer. 

The little fellow looked for another moment at his pur- 
chase, and then carefully cracked the largest one. 


IO 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

A shade — and a very deep shade it was — of disappoint- 
ment passed over his face, and then, looking up anxiously, 
he asked, “ Don’t you swap ’em when they’re bad ?” 

The man’s face looked as if a smile had been a stranger 
to it for a long time; but one did pay it a visit just then, 
and he tossed the boy two nuts, and asked him a question 
at the same time. “ What is your name ?” 

The big brown eyes looked up for an instant, as if to 
learn whether the question was asked in good faith, and 
then their owner said, as he carefully picked apart another 
nut, “ Toby Tyler.” 

“ Well, that’s a queer name.” 

“ Yes, I s’pose so, myself; but, you see, I don’t expect 
that’s the name that belongs to me. But the fellers call 
me so, an’ so does Uncle Dan’l.” 

“Who is Uncle Daniel?” was the next question. In 
the absence of other customers the man seemed disposed 
to get as much amusement out of the boy as possible. 

“He hain’t my uncle at all; i only call him so because 
all the boys do, an’ I live with him.” 

“ Where’s your father and mother ?” 

“ I don’t know,” said Toby, rather carelessly. “ I don’t 
know much about ’em, an’ Uncle Dan’l says they don’t 
know much about me. Here’s another bad nut; goin’ to 
give me two rqore ?” 



TOBY STRIKES A BARGAIN. 



Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


13 


The two nuts were given him, and he said, as he put 
them in his pocket, and turned over and over again those 
which he held in his hand, “ I shouldn’t wonder if all of 
these was bad. Sposen you give me two for each one of 
’em before I crack ’em, an’ then they won’t be spoiled so 
you can’t sell ’em again.” 

As this offer of barter was made, the man looked amused, 
and he asked, as he counted out the number which Toby 
desired, “ If I give you these, I suppose you’ll want me to 
give you two more for each one, and you’ll keep that kind 
of a trade going until you get my whole stock ?” 

“ I won’t open my head if every one of ’em’s bad.” 

66 All right ; you can keep what you’ve got, and I’ll give 
you these besides ; but I don’t want you to buy any more, 
for I don’t want to do that kind of business.” 

Toby took the nuts offered, not in the least abashed, and 
seated himself on a convenient stone to eat them, and at the 
same time to see all that was going on around him. The 
coming of a circus to the little town of Guilford was an 
event, and Toby had hardly thought of anything else since 
the highly colored posters had first been put up. It was yet 
quite early in the morning, and the tents were just being 
erected by the men. Toby had followed, with eager eyes, 
everything that looked as if it belonged to the circus, from 
the time the first wagon had entered the town until the 


14 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

street parade had been made, and everything was being pre- 
pared for the afternoon’s performance. 

The man who had made the losing trade in pea-nuts 
seemed disposed to question the boy still further, probably 
owing to the fact that he had nothing better to do. 

“Who is this Uncle Daniel you say you live with — is he 
a farmer?” 

“No; he’s a deacon, an’ he raps me over the head with 
the hymn-book whenever I go to sleep in meetin’, an’ he 
says I eat four times as much as I earn. I blame him for 
hittin’ so hard when I go to sleep, but I s’pose he’s right 
about my eatin’. You see,” and here his tone grew both 
confidential and mournful, “ I am an awful eater, an’ I 
can’t seem to help it. Somehow I’m hungry all the time. 
I don’t seem ever to get enough till carrot- time comes, an’ 
then I can get all I want without troubling anybody.” 

“ Didn’t you ever have enough to eat ?” 

“ I s’pose I did ; but you see Uncle Dan’l he found me 
one mornin’ on his hay, an’ he says I was cryin’ for some- 
thing to eat then, an’ I’ve kept it up ever since. I tried to 
get him co give me money enough to go into the circus 
with ; but he said a cent was all he could spare these hard 
times, an’ I’d better take that an’ buy something to eat with 
it, for the show wasn’t very good anyway. I wish pea-nuts 
wasn’t but a cent a bushel.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


J 5 


“ Then you would make yourself sick eating them.” 

“ Yes, I s’pose I should ; Uncle Dan’l says I’d eat till 1 
was sick, if I got the chance ; but I’d like to try it once.” 

He was a very small boy, with a round head covered with 
short red hair, a face as speckled as any turkey’s egg, but 
thoroughly good-natured-looking ; and as he sat there on the 
rather sharp point of the rock, swaying his body to and fro 
as he hugged his knees with his hands, and kept his eyes 
fastened on the tempting display of good things before him, 
it would have been a very hard-hearted man who would not 
have given him something. But Mr. Job Lord, the proprie- 
tor of the booth, was a hard-hearted man, and he did not 
make the slightest advance toward offering the little fellow 
anything. 

Toby rocked himself silently for a moment, and then he 
said, hesitatingly, “ I don’t suppose you’d like to sell me 
some things, an’ let me pay you when I get older, would 
you?” 

Mr. Lord shook his head decidedly at this proposition. 

“ I didn’t s’pose you would,” said Toby, quickly ; “ but 
you didn’t seem to be selling anything, an’ I thought I’d 
just see what you’d say about it.” And then he appeared 
suddenly to see something wonderfully interesting behind 
him, which served as an excuse to turn his reddening face 
away. 


i6 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

u I suppose your uncle Daniel makes you work for your 
living, don’t he ?” asked Mr. Lord, after he had rearranged 
his stock of candy, and had added a couple of slices of 
lemon - peel to what was popularly supposed to be lem- 
onade. 

“ That’s what I think ; but he says that all the work 1 do 
wouldn’t pay for the meal that one chicken would eat, an’ 
I s’pose it’s so, for I don’t like to work as well as a feller 
without any father and mother ought to. I don’t know 
why it is, but I guess it’s because I take up so much time 
eatin’ that it kinder tires me out. I s’pose you go into the 
circus whenever you want to, don’t you ?” 

“ Oh yes ; I’m there at every performance, for I keep the 
stand under the big canvas as well as this one out here.” 

There was a great big sigh from out Toby’s little round 
stomach, as he thought what bliss it must be to own all 
those good things, and to see the circus wherever it went. 
“ It must be nice,” he said, as he faced the booth and its 
hard-visaged proprietor once more. 

“ How would you like it?” asked Mr. Lord, patronizingly, 
as he looked Toby over in a business way, very much as if 
he contemplated purchasing him. 

“ Like it !” echoed Toby ; “ why, I’d grow fat on it.” 

“I don’t know as that would be any advantage,” con- 
tinued Mr. Lord, reflectively, “ for it strikes me that you’re 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 17 

about as fat now as a boy of your age ought to be. But 
I’ve a great mind to give you a chance.” 

“ What !” cried Toby, in amazement, and his eyes opened 
to their widest extent, as this possible opportunity of lead- 
ing a delightful life presented itself. 

“Yes, I’ve a great mind to give you the chance. You 
see,” and now it was Mr. Lord’s turn to grow confidential, 
“ I’ve had a boy with me this season, but he cleared out at 
the last town, and I’m running the business alone now.” 

Toby’s face expressed all the contempt he felt for the 
boy who would run away from such a glorious life as Mr. 
Lord’s assistant must lead ; but he said not a word, waiting 
in breathless expectation for the offer which he now felt 
certain would be made him. 

“ Now I ain’t hard on a boy,” continued Mr. Lord, still 
confidentially, “and yet that one seemed to think that he 
was treated worse and made to work harder than any boy 
in the world.” 

“ He ought to live with Uncle Dan’l a week,” said Toby, 
eagerly. 

“Here I was just like a father to him,” said Mr. Lord, 
paying no attention to the interruption, “ and I gave him 
his board and lodging, and a dollar a week besides.” 

“ Could he do what he wanted to with the dollar ?” 

“ Of course he could. 1 never checked him, no matter 
2 


i8 


Toby Tyler ; or ; 

how extravagant he was, an’ yet I’ve seen him spend his 
whole week’s wages at this very stand in one afternoon. 
And even after his money had all gone that way, I’ve paid 
for peppermint and ginger out of my own pocket just to 
cure his stomach-ache.” 

Toby shook his head mournfully, as if deploring that de- 
pravity which could cause a boy to run away from such a 
tender-hearted employer, and from such a desirable position. 
But even as he shook his head so sadly he looked wistfully 
at the pea-nuts, and Mr. Lord observed the look. 

It may have been that Mr. Job Lord was the tender- 
hearted man he prided himself upon being, or it may have 
been that he wished to purchase Toby’s sympathy ; but, at 
all events, he gave him a large handful of nuts, and Toby 
never bothered his little round head as to what motive 
prompted the gift. Now he could listen to the story of the 
boy’s treachery and eat at the same lime ; therefore he was 
an attentive listener. 

“ All in the world that boy had to do,” continued Mr. 
Lord, in the same injured tone he had previously used, 
“ was to help me set things to rights when we struck a town 
in the morning, and then tend to the counter till we left the 
town at night, and all the rest of the time he had to him- 
self. Yet that boy was ungrateful enough to run away.” 

Mr. Lord paused, as if expecting some expression of sym- 




Ten Weeks with a Circus. 19 

pathy from his listener; but Toby was so busily engaged 
with his unexpected feast, and his mouth was so full, that it 
did not seem even possible for him to shake his head. 

“ Now what should you say if I told you that you looked 
to me like a boy that was made especially to help run a 
candy counter at a circus, and if I offered the place to 
you?” 

Toby made one frantic effort to swallow the very large 
mouthful, and in a choking voice he answered, quickly, 
“ I should say I’d go with you, an’ be mighty glad of the 
chance.” 

“ Then it’s a bargain, my boy, ana you shall leave town 
with me to-night.” 


20 


Toby Tyler ; or 



Chapter II. 

TOBY RUNS AWAY FROM HOME. 

' OBY could scarcely restrain himself at the pros 
pect of this golden future that had so suddenly 
opened before him. He tried to express his grati- 
tude, but could only do so by evincing his willing- 
ness to commence work at once. 

“ No, no, that won’t do,” said Mr. Lord, cautiously. “ If 
your uncle Daniel should see you working here, he might 
mistrust something, and then you couldn’t get away.” 

“ I don’t believe he’d try to stop me,” said Toby, confi- 
dently ; “ for he’s told me lots of times that it was a sorry 
day for him when he found me.” 

“We won’t take any chances, my son,” was the reply, in a 
very benevolent tone, as he patted Toby on the head, and at 
the same time handed him a piece of pasteboard. “ There’s 
a ticket for the circus, and you come around to see me 
about ten o’clock to-night. I’ll put you on one of the wag- 
ons, and by to-morrow morning your uncle Daniel will have 
hard work to find you.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


21 


If Toby had followed his inclinations, the chances are 
that he would have fallen on his knees, and kissed Mr. 
Lord’s hands in the excess of his gratitude. But not know- 
ing exactly how such a show of thankfulness might be re- 
ceived, he contented himself by repeatedly promising that 
he would be punctual to the time and place appointed. 

He would have loitered in the vicinity of the candy stand 
in order that he might gain some insight into the business ; 
but Mr. Lord advised that he remain away, lest his uncle 
Daniel should see him, and suspect where he had gone when 
he was missed in the morning. 

As Toby walked around the circus grounds, whereon was 
so much to attract his attention, he could not prevent him- 
self from assuming an air of proprietorship. His interest in 
all that was going on was redoubled, and in his anxiety that 
everything should be done correctly and in the proper order 
he actually, and perhaps for the first time in his life, forgot 
that he was hungry. He was really to travel with a circus, 
to become a part, as it were, of the whole, and to be able to 
see its many wonderful and beautiful attractions every day. 

Even the very tent ropes had acquired a new interest for 
him, and the faces of the men at work seemed suddenly to 
have become those of friends. How hard it was for him to 
walk around unconcernedly: and how especially hard to 
prevent his feet from straying toward that tempting display 


22 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

of dainties which he was to sell to those who came to see 
and enjoy, and who would look at him with wonder and 
curiosity ! It was very hard not to be allowed to tell his 
playmates of his wonderfully good fortune; but silence 
meant success, and he locked his secret in his bosom, not 
even daring to talk with any one he knew, lest he should 
betray himself by some incautious word. 

He did not go home to dinner that day, and once or twice 
he felt impelled to walk past the candy stand, giving a mys- 
terious shake of the head at the proprietor as he did so. 
The afternoon performance passed off as usual to all of the 
spectators save Toby. He imagined that each one of the 
performers knew that he was about to join them ; and even 
as he passed the cage containing the monkeys he fancied 
that one particularly old one knew all about his intention of 
running away. 

Of course it was necessary for him to go home at the 
close of the afternoon’s performance, in order to get one or 
two valuable articles of his own — such as a boat, a kite, and 
a pair of skates — and in order that his actions might not 
seem suspicious. Before he left the grounds, however, he 
stole slyly around to the candy stand, and informed Mr. Job 
Lord, in a very hoarse whisper, that he would be on hand at 
the time appointed. 

Mr. Lord patted him on the head, gave him two large 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


23 


sticks of candy, and, what was more kind and surprising, 
considering the fact that he wore glasses, and was cross- 
eyed, he winked at Toby. A wink from Mr. Lord must 
have been intended to convey a great deal, because, owing 
to the defect in his eyes, it required no little exertion, and 
even then could not be considered as a really first-class 
wink. 

That wink, distorted as it was, gladdened Toby’s heart 
immensely, and took away nearly all the sting of the scold- 
ing with which Uncle Daniel greeted him when he reached 
home. 

That night — despite the fact that he was going tq travU' 
with the circus, despite the fact that his home wds not a 
happy or cheerful one — Toby was not in a pleasant frame 
of mind. He began to feel for the first time that he was 
doing wrong; and as he gazed at Uncle Daniel’s stern, for- 
bidding-looking face, it seemed to have changed somewhat 
from its severity, and caused a great lump of something to 
come up in his throLo as he thought that perhaps he should 
never see it again. Just then one or two kind words would 
have prevented him from running away, bright as the pros' 
pect of circus life appeared. 

It was almost impossible for him to eat anything, and 
this very surprising state of affairs attracted the attention 
of Uncle Daniel. 


24 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

“ Bless my heart ! what ails the boy ?” asked the old man, 
as he peered over his glasses at Toby’s well-filled plate, 
which was usually emptied so quickly. “ Are ye sick, Toby, 
or what is the matter with ye ?” 

“ No, I hain’t sick,” said Toby, with a sigh ; “ but I’ve 
been to the circus, an’ I got a good deal to eat.” 

“ Oho, you spent that cent I give ye, eh, an’ got so much 
that it made ye sick V 

Toby thought of the six pea-nuts which he had bought 
with the penny Uncle Daniel had given him ; and, amid 
all his homesickness, he could not help wondering if Uncle 
Daniel ever made himself sick with only six pea-nuts when 
he was a boy. 

As no one paid any further attention to Toby, he pushed 
back his plate, arose from the table, and went with a heavy 
heart to attend to his regular evening chores. The cow, the 
hens, and even the pigs, came in for a share of his unusu- 
ally kind attention ; and as he fed them all the big tears 
rolled down his cheeks, as he thought that perhaps never 
again would he see any of them. These dumb animals had 
all been Toby’s confidants ; he had poured out his griefs in 
their ears, and fancied, when the world or Uncle Daniel had 
used him unusually hard, that they sympathized with him. 
Now he was leaving them forever, and as he locked the 
stable door he could hear the sounds of music coming from 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 23 

the direction of the circus grounds, and he was angry at it, 
because it represented that which was taking him away from 
his home, even though it was not as pleasant as it might 
have been. 

Still, he had no thought of breaking the engagement 
which he had made. He went to his room, made a bundle 
of his worldly possessions, and crept out of the back door, 
down the road to the circus. 

Mr. Lord saw him as soon as he arrived on the grounds, 
and as he passed another ticket to Toby he took his bundle 
from him, saying, as he did so, u I’ll pack up your bundle 
with my things, and then you’ll be sure not to lose it. Don’t 
you want some candy ?” 

Toby shook his head ; he had just discovered that there 
was possibly some connection between his heart and his 
stomach, for his grief at leaving home had taken from him 
all desire for good things. It is also more than possible 
that Mr. Lord had had experience enough with boys to know 
that they might be homesick on the eve of starting to travel 
with a circus; and in order to make sure that Toby would 
keep to his engagement he was unusually kind. 

That evening was the longest Toby ever knew. He wan- 
dered from one cage of animals to another ; then to see the 
performance in the ring, and back again to the animals, in 
the vain hope of passing the time pleasantly. But it was of 


26 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

no use ; that lump in his throat would remain there, and the 
thoughts of what he was about to do would trouble him se- 
verely. The performance failed to interest him, and the 
animals did not attract until he had visited the monkey-cage 
for the third or fourth time. Then he fancied that the same 
venerable monkey who had looked so knowing in the after- 
noon was gazing at him with a sadness which could only 
have come from a thorough knowledge of all the grief and 
doubt that was in his heart. 

There was no one around the cages, and Toby got just as 
near to the iron bars as possible. No sooner had he flat- 
tened his little pug-nose against the iron than the aged mon- 
key came down from the ring in which he had been swing- 
ing, and, seating himself directly in front of Toby’s face, 
looked at him most compassionately. 

It would not have surprised the boy just then if the ani- 
mal had spoken ; but as he did not, Toby did the next best 
thing, and spoke to him. 

“ I s’pose you remember that you saw me this afternoon, 
an’ somebody told you that I was goin’ to join the circus, 
didn’t they ?” 

The monkey made no reply, though Toby fancied that he 
winked an affirmative answer; and he looked so sympa- 
thetic that he continued, confidentially, 

“ Well, I’m the same feller, an’ I don’t mind telling you 



TOBY AVP HTS NEW FRTBND. 





i 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


29 


that I’m awfully sorry I promised that candy man I’d go 
with him. Do you know that I came near crying at the 
supper table to-night ; an’ Uncle Dan’l looked real good an’ 
nice, though I never thought so before. I wish I wasn’t 
goin’, after all, ’cause it don’t seem a bit like a good time 
now ; but I s’pose I must, ’cause I promised to, an’ ’cause 
the candy man has got all my things.” 

The big tears had begun to roll down Toby’s cheeks, and 
as he ceased speaking the monkey reached out one little 
paw, which Toby took as earnestly as if it had been done 
purposely to console him. 

“ You’re real good, you are,” continued Toby ; “ an’ I 
hope I shall see you real often, for it seems to me now, 
when there hain’t any folks around, as if you was the only 
friend I’ve got in this great big world. It’s awful when a 
feller feels the way I do, an’ when he don’t seem to want 
anything to eat. Now if you’ll stick to me, I’ll stick to you, 
an’ then it won’t be half so bad when we feel this way.” 

During this speech Toby had still clung to the little 
brown paw, which the monkey now withdrew, and contin- 
ued to gaze into the boy’s face. 

u The fellers all say I don’t amount to anything,” sobbed 
Toby, “ an’ Uncle Dan’l says I don’t, an’ I s’pose they know ; 
but I tell you I feel just as bad, now that I’m goin’ away 
from them all, as if I was as good as any of them.” 


30 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

At this moment Toby saw Mr. Lord enter the tent, and 
he knew that the summons to start was about to be given. 

“ Good-bye,” he said to the monkey, as he vainly tried to 
take him by the hand again; “remember what I’ve told 
you, an’ don’t forget that Toby Tyler is feelin’ worse to- 
night than if he was twice as big an’ twice as good.” 

Mr. Lord had come to summon him away, and he now 
told Toby that he would show him with which man he was 
to ride that night. 

Toby looked another good-bye at the venerable monkey, 
who was watching him closely, and then followed his em- 
ployer out of the tent, among the ropes and poles and gen- 
eral confusion attendant upon the removal of a circus from 
one place to another. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


3 * 


Chapter III. 



THE NIGHT RIDE. 

~ HE wagon on which Mr. Lord was to send his 
new-found employe was, by the most singular 
chance, the one containing the monkeys, and Toby 
accepted this as a good omen. He would be near 
his venerable friend all night, and there was some consola- 
tion in that. The driver instructed the boy to watch his 
movements, and when he saw him leading his horses around, 
“ to look lively, and be on hand, for he never waited for any 
one.” 

Toby not only promised to do as ordered, but he followed 
the driver around so closely that, had he desired, he could 
not have rid himself of his little companion. 

The scene which presented itself to Toby’s view was 
strange and weird in the extreme. Shortly after he had 
attached himself to the man with whom he was to ride, the 
performance was over, and the work of putting the show 
and its belongings into such a shape as could be conveyed 
from one town to another was soon in active operation,, 


3 * 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

Toby forgot his grief, forgot that he was running away 
from the only home he had ever known — in fact, forgot 
everything concerning himself — so interested was he in that 
which was going on about him. 

As soon as the audience had got out of the tent — and 
almost before — the work of taking down the canvas was 
begun. 

Torches were stuck in the earth at regular intervals, the 
lights that had shone so brilliantly in and around the ring 
had been extinguished, the canvas sides had been taken 
off, and the boards that had formed the seats were being 
packed into one of the carts with a rattling sound that 
seemed as if a regular fusillade of musketry was being in- 
dulged in. Men were shouting; horses were being driven 
hither and thither, harnessed to the wagons, or drawing 
the huge carts away as soon as they were loaded ; and ev- 
erything seemed in the greatest state of confusion, while 
really the work was being done in the most systematic 
manner possible. 

Toby had not long to wait before the driver informed 
him that the time for starting had arrived, and assisted him 
to climb up to the narrow seat whereon he was to ride that 
night. 

The scene was so exciting, and his efforts to stick to the 
narrow seat so great, that he really had no time to attend 



toby’s first night ride 




» 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 35 

to the homesick feeling that had crept over him during the 
first part of the evening. 

The long procession of carts and wagons drove slowly out 
of the town, and when the last familiar house had been 
passed the driver spoke to Toby for the first time since they 
started. 

“ Pretty hard work to keep on — eh, sonny ?” 

“ Yes,” replied the boy, as the wagon jolted over a rock, 
bouncing him high in air, and he, by strenuous efforts, bare- 
ly succeeded in alighting on the sea again, “ it is pretty hard 
work ; an’ my name’s Toby Tyler.” 

Toby heard a queer sound that seemed to come from the 
man’s throat, and for a few moments he feared that his 
companion was choking. But he soon understood that this 
was simply an attempt to laugh, and he at once decided that 
it was a very poor style of laugJaing. 

“ So you object to being called sonny, do you ?” 

“ Well, Pd rather be called Toby, for, you see, that’s my 
name.” 

“ All right, my boy ; we’ll call you Toby. I suppose you 
thought it was a mighty fine thing to run away an’ jine a 
circus, didn’t you ?” 

Toby started in affright, looked around cautiously, and 
then tried to peer down through the small square aperture, 
guarded by iron rods, that opened into the cage just back 


36 


Toby Tyler ; or , 


of the seat they were sitting on. Then he turned slowly 
around to the driver, and asked, in a voice sunk to a whis- 
per, “How did you know that I was runnin’ away? Did 
he tell you?” and Toby motioned with his thumb as if he 
were pointing out some one behind him. 

It was the driver’s turn now to look around in search of 
the “ he ” referred to by Toby. 

“ Who do you mean ?” asked the man, impatiently. 

“ Why, the old feller ; the one in the cart there. I think 
he knew I was runnin’ away, though he didn’t say anything 
about it ; but he looked just as if he did.” 

The driver looked at Toby in perfect amazement for a 
moment, and then, as if suddenly understanding the boy, re- 
lapsed into one of those convulsive efforts that caused the 
blood to rush up into his face, and gave him every appear- 
ance of having a fit. 

“You must mean one of the monkeys,” said the driver, 
after he had recovered his breath, which had been almost 
shaken out of his body by the silent laughter “So you 
thought a monkey had told me what any fool could have 
seen if he had watched you for five minutes.” 

“Well,” said Toby, slowly, as if he feared he might pro- 
voke one of those terrible laughing spells again, “ I saw 
him to - night, an’ he looked as if he knew what 1 was 
doin’ ; so I up an’ told him, an’ I didn’t know but he’d told 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 3 7 

you, though he didn’t look to me like a feller that would 
be mean.” 

There was another internal shaking on the part of the 
driver, which Toby did not fear so much, since he was get- 
ting accustomed to it, and then the man said, “ Well, you 
are the queerest little cove I ever saw.” 

“ I s’pose I am,” was the reply, accompanied by a long- 
drawn sigh. “ I don’t seem to amount to so much as the 
other fellers do, an’ I guess it’s because I’m always hungry ; 
you see, I eat awful, Uncle Dan’l says.” 

The only reply which the driver made to this plaintive 
confession was to put his hand down into the deepest re- 
cesses of one of his deep pockets, and to draw therefrom a 
huge doughnut, which he handed to his companion. 

Toby was so much at his ease by this time that the appe- 
tite which had failed him at supper had now returned in 
full force, and he devoured the doughnut in a most raven- 
ous manner. 

“ You’re too small to eat so fast,” said the man, in a warn- 
ing tone, as the last morsel of the greasy sweetness disap- 
peared, and he fished up another for the boy. “ Some time 
you’ll get hold of one of the India-rubber doughnuts that 
they feed to circus people, an’ choke yourself to death.” 

Toby shook his head, and devoured this second cake as 
quickly as he had the first, craning his neck, and uttering 


38 Toby Tyler , or , 

a funny little squeak as the last bit went down, just as a 
chicken does when he gets too large a mouthful of dough. 

“ I’ll never choke,” he said, confidently : “ I’m used to it ; 
and Uncle Dan’l says I could eat a pair of boots an’ never 
wink at ’em ; but I don’t just believe that.” 

As the driver made no reply to this remark Toby curled 
himself up on one corner of the seat, and watched with no 
little interest all that was passing on around him. Each 
of the wagons had a lantern fastened to the hind axle, and 
these lights could be seen far ahead on the road, as if a 
party ot fire-flies had started in single file on an excursion. 
The trees by the side of thy road stood out weird and ghost- 
ly -looking in the darkness, and the rumble of the carts 
ahead and behind formed a musical accompaniment to the 
picture that sounded strangely doleful. 

Mile after mile was passed over in perfect silence, save 
now and then when the driver would whistle a few bars of 
some very dismal tune that would fairly make Toby shiver 
with its mournfulness. Eighteen miles was the distance 
from Guilford to the town where the next performance of 
the circus was to be given, and as Toby thought of the ride 
before them it seemed as if the time would be almost inter- 
minable. He curled himself up on one corner of the seat, 
and tried very hard to go to sleep ; but just as his eyes be- 
gan to grow heavy the wagon would jolt over some rock u t 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


39 


sink deep in some rut, till Toby, the breath very nearly 
shaken out of his body, and his neck almost dislocated, 
would sit bolt-upright, clinging to the seat with both hands, 
as if he expected each moment to be pitched out into the 
mud. 

The driver watched him closely, and each time that he 
saw him shaken up and awakened so thoroughly he would 
indulge in one of his silent laughing spells, until Toby 
would wonder whether he would ever recover from it. Sev- 
eral times had Tooy been awakened, and each time he had 
seen the amusement his sufferings caused, until he finally 
resolved to put an end to the sport by keeping awake. 

“ What is your name ?” he asked of the driver, thinking 
a conversation would be the best way to rouse himself into 
wakefulness. 

“Waal,” said the driver, as he gathered the reins care- 
fully in one hand, and seemed to be debating in his mind 
how he should answer the question, “ I don’t know as I 
know myself, it’s been so long since I’ve heard it.” 

Toby was wide enough awake now, as this rather singular 
problem was forced upon his mind. He revolved the mat- 
ter silently for some moments, and at last he asked, “ What 
do folks call you when they want to speak to you ?” 

a They always call me Old Ben, an’ I’ve got so used to the 
name that I don’t need any other 


40 


Toby Tyler ; or ; 

Toby wanted very much to ask more questions, but he 
wisely concluded that it would not be agreeable to his com- 
panion. 

“ I’ll ask the old man about it,” said Toby to himself, 
referring to the aged monkey, whom he seemed to feel 
acquainted with ; “ he most likely knows, if he’ll say any- 
thing.” After this the conversation ceased, until Toby again 
ventured to suggest, “ It’s a pretty long drive, hain’t it ?” 

“ You want to wait till you’ve been in this business a year 
or two,” said Ben, sagely, “ an’ then you won’t think much 
of it. Why, I’ve known the show towns to be thirty miles 
apart, an’ them was the times when we had lively work of 
it ; riding all night and working all day kind of wears on a 
fellow.” 

“ Yes, I s’pose so,” said Toby, with a sigh, as he wondered 
whether he had got to work as hard as that ; “ but I s’pose 
you get all you want to eat, don’t you ?” 

“ Now you’ve struck it!” said Ben, with the air of one 
about to impart a world of wisdom, as he crossed one leg 
over the other, that his position might be as comfortable as 
possible while he was initiating his young companion into 
the mysteries of the life. “ I’ve had all the boys ride with 
me since I’ve been with this show, an’ I’ve tried to start 
them right ; but they didn’t seem to profit by it, an’ always 
got sick of the show an’ run away, just because they didn’t 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


4i 


look out for themselves as they ought to. Now listen to me, 
Toby, an’ remember what I say. You see they put us all 
in a hotel together, an’ some of these places where we go 
don’t have any too much stuff on the table. Whenever we 
strike a new town you find out at the hotel what time they 
have the grub ready, an’ you be on hand, so’s to get in with 
the first. Eat all you can, an’ fill your pockets.” 

“ If that’s all a feller has to do to travel with a circus,” 
said Toby, “ I’m just the one, ’cause I always used to do just 
that when I hadn’t any idea of bein’ a circus man.” 

“ Then you’ll get along all right,” said Ben, as he checked 
the speed of his horses, and, looking carefully ahead, said, 
as he guided his team to one side of the road, “ This is as 
far as we’re going to-night.” 

Toby learned that they were within a couple of miles of 
the town, and that the entire procession would remain by 
the roadside until time to make the grand entree into the 
village, when every wagon, horse, and man would be decked 
out in the most gorgeous array, as they had been when they 
entered Guilford. 

Under Ben’s direction he wrapped himself in an old 
horse-blanket, and lay down on the top of the wagon ; and 
he was so tired from the excitement of the day and night, 
that he had hardly stretched out at full length before he 
was fast asleep. 


4.2 


Toby Tyler ; or. 



Chapter IV. 

THE FIRST DAY WITH THE CIRCUS. 

?HEN Toby awakened and looked around he 
could hardly realize where he was or how he came 
there. As far ahead and behind on the road as he 
could see the carts were drawn up on one side; 
men were hurrying to and fro, orders were being shouted, 
and everything showed, that the entry into the town was 
about to be made. Directly opposite the wagon on which 
he had been sleeping were the four elephants and two 
camels, and close behind, contentedly munching their break- 
fasts, were a number of tiny ponies. Troops of horses were 
being groomed and attended to ; the road was littered with 
saddles, flags, and general decorations, until it seemed to 
Toby that there must have been a smash-up, and that he 
now beheld ruins rather than systematic disorder. 

How different everything looked now, compared to the 
time when the cavalcade marched into Guilford, dazzling 
every one with the gorgeous display! Then the horses 
pranced gayly under their gaudy decorations, the wagons 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


43 


were bright with glass, gilt, and flags, the lumbering ele- 
phants and awkward camels were covered with fancifully 
embroidered velvets, and even the drivers of the wagons 
were resplendent in their uniforms of scarlet and gold. 
Now, in the gray light of the early morning, everything was 
changed. The horses were tired and muddy, and wore old 
and dirty harness; the gilded chariots were covered with 
mud-bespattered canvas, which caused them to look like the 
most ordinary of market wagons ; the elephants and camels 
Iboked dingy, dirty, almost repulsive ; and the drivers were 
only a sleepy-looking set of men, who, in their shirt-sleeves, 
were getting ready for the change which would dazzle the 
eyes of the inhabitants of the town. 

Toby descended from his lofty bed, rubbed his eyes to 
thoroughly awaken himself, and under the guidance of Ben 
went to a little brook near by and washed his face. He had 
been with the circus not quite ten hours, but now he could 
not realize that it had ever seemed bright and beautiful. 
He missed his comfortable bed, the quiet and cleanliness, 
and the well-spread table; even although he had felt the 
lack of parents’ care, Uncle Daniel’s home seemed the very 
abode of love and friendly feeling compared to this condi- 
tion, where no one appeared to care even enough for him to 
scold at him. He was thoroughly homesick, and heartily 
wished that he was back in his old native town. 


44 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

While he was washing his face in the brook he saw some 
of the boys who had come out from the town to catch the 
first glimpse of the circus, and he saw at once that he was 
the object of their admiring gaze. He heard one of the 
boys say, when they first discovered him, 

“ There’s one of them, an’ he’s only a little feller ; so I’m 
going to talk to him.” 

Thff evident admiration which the boys had for Toby 
pleased him, and this pleasure was the only drop of comfort 
he had had since he started. He hoped they would come 
and talk with him ; and, that they might have the opportu- 
nity, he was purposely slow in making his toilet. 

The boys approached him shyly, as if they had their 
doubts whether he was made of the same material as them- 
selves, and when they got quite near to him, and satisfied 
themselves that he was only washing his face in much 
the same way that any well-regulated boy would do, the 
one who had called attention to him said, half timidly, 
“ Hello !” 

“Hello!” responded Toby, in a tone that was meant to 
invite confidence. 

“ Do you belong to the circus ?” 

“ Yes,” said Toby, a little doubtfully. 

Then the boys stared at him again as if he were one 
of the strange-looking animals, and the one who had been 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 45 

the spokesman drew a long breath of envy as he said, long- 
ingly, “ My ! what a nice time you must have !” 

Toby remembered that only yesterday he himself had 
thought that boys must have a nice time with a circus, and 
he now felt what a mistake that thought was; but he con- 
cluded that he would not undeceive his new acquaintance. 

“ And do they give you frogs to eat, so’s to make you 
limber ?” 

This was the first time that Toby had thought of break- 
fast, and the very mention of eating made him hungry. He 
was just at that moment so very hungry that he did not 
think he was replying to the question when he said, quick- 
ly, “ Eat frogs ! I could eat anything, if I only had the 
chance.” 

The boys took this as an answer to their question, and 
felt perfectly convinced that the agility of circus riders and 
tumblers depended upon the quantity of frogs eaten, and 
they looked upon Toby with no little degree of awe. 

Toby might have undeceived them as to the kind of food 
he ate, but just at that moment the harsh voice of Mr. Job 
Lord was heard calling him, and he hurried away to com- 
mence his first day’s work. 

Toby’s employer was not the same pleasant, kindly-spoken 
man that he had been during the time they were in Guil- 
ford, and before the boy was absolutely under his control. 


46 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

He looked cross, he acted cross, and it did not take the boy 
very long to find out that he was very cross. 

He scolded Toby roundly, and launched more oaths at 
his defenceless head than Toby had ever heard in his 
life. He was angry that the boy had not been on hand 
to help him, and also that he had been obliged to hunt for 
him. 

Toby tried to explain that he had no idea of what he was 
expected to do, and that he had been on the wagon to which 
he had been sent, only leaving it to wash his face ; but the 
angry man grew still more furious. 

“ Went to wash your face, did yer ? Want to set yourself 
up for a dandy, I suppose, and think that you must souse 
that speckled face of yours into every brook you come to ? 
I’ll soon break you of that ; and the sooner you understand 
that I can’t afford to have you wasting your time in wash- 
ing, the better it will be for you.” 

Toby now grew angry, and not realizing how wholly he 
was in the man’s power, he retorted, “ If you think I’m 
going round with a dirty face, even if it is speckled, for a 
dollar a week, you’re mistaken, that’s all. How many folks 
would eat your candy if they knew you handled it over be- 
fore you washed your hands ?” 

“ Oho ! I’ve picked up a preacher, have I ? Now, I want 
you to understand, my bantam, that I do all the preaching 



OLD BEN COMES TO THE RESCUE. 





* 






Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


49 

as well as the practising myself, and this is about as quick 
a way as I know of to make you understand it.” 

As the man spoke he grasped the boy by the coat-collar 
with one hand, and with the other plied a thin rubber cane 
with no gentle force to every portion of Toby’s body that 
he could reach. 

Every blow caused the poor boy the most intense pain ; 
but he determined that his tormentor should not have the 
satisfaction of forcing an outcry from him, and he closed 
his lips so tightly that not a single sound could escape from 
them. 

This very silence enraged the man so much that he re- 
doubled the force and rapidity of his blows, and it is im- 
possible to say what might have been the consequences had 
not Ben come that way just then, and changed the aspect of 
affairs. 

“Up to your old tricks of whipping the boys, are you, 
Job ?” he said, as he wrested the cane from the man’s hand 
and held him off at arm’s-length, to prevent him from doing 
Toby more mischief. 

Mr. Lord struggled to release himself, and insisted that, 
since the boy was in his employ, he should do with him just 
as he saw fit. 

“ Now look here, Mr. Lord,” said Ben, as gravely as if he 

was delivering some profound piece of wisdom, “ I’ve never 

4 


50 


Toby Tyler ; or ; 

interfered with you before ; but now I’m going to stop your 
game of thrashing your boy every morning before break- 
fast. You just tell this youngster what you want him to do, 
and if he don’t do it you can discharge him. If I hear of 
your flogging him, I shall attend to your case at once. You 
hear me ?” 

Ben shook the now terrified candy vender much as if he 
had been a child, and then released him, saying to Toby as 
he did so, “ Now, my boy, you attend to your business as 
you ought to, and I’ll settle his account if he tries the flog- 
ging game again.” 

“ You see, I don’t know what there is for me to do,” sob- 
bed Toby, for the kindly interference of Ben had made him 
show more feeling than Mr. Lord’s blows had done. 

“ Tell him what he must do,” said Ben, sternly. 

“I want him to go to work and wash the tumblers, and 
fix up the things in that green box, so we can commence to 
sell as soon as we get into town,” snarled Mr. Lord, as he 
motioned toward a large green chest that had been taken 
out of one of the carts, and which Toby saw was filled with 
dirty glasses, spoons, knives, and other utensils such as were 
necessary to carry on the business. 

Toby got a pail of water from the brook, hunted around 
and found towels and soap, and devoted himself to his work 
with such industry that Mr. Lord could not repress a grunt 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 5 1 

of satisfaction as he passed him, however angry he felt be- 
cause he could not administer the whipping which would 
have smoothed his ruffled temper. 

By the time the procession was ready to start for the 
town Toby had as much of his work done as he could find 
that it was necessary to do, and his master, in his surly way, 
half acknowledged that this last boy of his was better than 
any he had had before. 

Although Toby had done his work so well he was far 
from feeling happy; he was both angry and sad as he 
thought of the cruel blows that had been inflicted, and he 
had plenty of leisure to repent of the rash step he had 
taken, although he could not see very clearly how he was to 
get away from it. He thought that he could not go back to 
Guilford, for Uncle Daniel would not allow him to come to 
his house again ; and the hot scalding tears ran down his 
cheeks as he realized that he was homeless and friendless in 
this great big world. 

It was while he was in this frame of mind that the pro- 
cession, all gaudy with flags, streamers, and banners, entered 
the town. Under different circumstances this would have 
been a most delightful day for him, for the entrance of a 
circus into Guilford had always been a source of one day’s 
solid enjoyment ; but now he was the most disconsolate and 
unhappy boy in all that crowd. 


52 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

He did not ride throughout the entire route of the pro- 
cession, for Mr. Lord was anxious to begin business, and the 
moment the tenting ground was reached the wagon contain- 
ing Mr. Lord’s goods was driven into the enclosure, and 
Toby’s day’s work began. 

He was obliged to bring water, to cut up the lemons, fetch 
and carry fruit from the booth in the big tent to the booth 
on the outside, until he was ready to drop with fatigue, and 
having had no time for breakfast, was nearly famished. 

It was quite noon before he was permitted to go to the 
hotel for something to eat, and then Ben’s advice to be one 
of the first to get to the tables was not needed. 

In the eating line that day he astonished the servants, the 
members of the company, and even himself, and by the time 
he arose from the table, with both pockets and his stomach 
full to bursting, the tables had been set and cleared away 
twice while he was making one meal. 

“ Well, I guess you didn’t hurry yourself much,” said Mr. 
Lord, when Toby returned to the circus ground. 

“ Oh yes, I did,” was Toby’s innocent reply : “ I ate just 
as fast as I could and a satisfied smile stole over the boy’s 
face as he thought of the amount of solid food he had con- 
sumed. 

The answer was not one which was calculated to make 
Mr. Lord feel any more agreeably disposed toward his new 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


53 

clerk, and he showed his ill-temper very plainly as he said, 
“ It must take a good deal to satisfy you.” 

“ I s’pose it does,” calmly replied Toby. “ Sam Merrill 
used to say that I took after Aunt Olive and Uncle Dan’l. 4 
one ate a good while, an’ the other ate awful fast.” 

Toby could not understand what it was that Mr. Lord said 
in reply, but he could understand that his employer was 
angry at somebody or something, and he tried unusually 
hard to please him. He talked to the boys who had gath- 
ered around, to induce them to buy, washed the glasses as 
fast as they were used, tried to keep off the flies, and in 
every way he could think of endeavored to please his 
master. 


54 


Toby Tyler ; or , 


Chapter V. 



THE COUNTERFEIT TEN-CENT PIECE. 

^HEN the doors of the big tent were opened, and 
the people began to crowd in, just as Toby had 
seen them do at Guilford, Mr. Lord announced to 
his young clerk that it was time for him to go into 
the tent to work. Then it was that Toby learned for the 
first time that he had two masters instead of one, and this 
knowledge caused him no little uneasiness. If the other 
one was anything like Mr. Lord, his lot would be just twice 
as bad, and he began to wonder whether he could even 
stand it one day longer. 

As the boy passed through the tent on his way to the 
candy stand, where he was really to enter upon the duties 
for which he had run away from home, he wanted to stop 
for a moment and speak with the old monkey who he 
thought had taken such an interest in him. But when he 
reached the cage in which his friend was confined, there 
was such a crowd around it that it was impossible for him 
to get near enough to speak without being overheard. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


55 


This was such a disappointment to the little fellow that 
the big tears came into his eyes, and in another instant 
would have gone rolling down his cheeks if his aged friend 
had not chanced to look toward him. Toby fancied that 
the monkey looked at him in the most friendly way, and 
then he was certain that he winked one eye. Toby felt 
that there was no mistake about that wink, and it seemed as 
if it was intended to convey comfort to him in his troubles. 
He winked back at the monkey in the most emphatic and 
grave manner possible, and then went on his way, feeling 
wonderfully comforted. 

The work inside the tent was far different and much 
harder than it was outside. He was obliged to carry around 
among the audience trays of candy, nuts, and lemonade for 
sale, and he was also expected to cry aloud the description 
of that which he offered. The partner of Mr. Lord, who had 
charge of the stand inside the tent, showed himself to be 
neither better nor worse than Mr. Lord himself. When Toby 
first presented himself for work he handed him a tray fill- 
ed with glasses of lemonade, and told him to go among the 
audience, crying, “Here’s your nice cold lemonade, only 
five cents a glass !” 

Toby started to do as he was bidden ; but when he tried 
to repeat the words in anything like a loud tone of voice 
they stuck in his throat, and he found it next to impossible 


56 


Toby Tyler ; or \ 

to utter a sound above a whisper. It seemed to him that 
every one in the audience was looking only at him, and the 
very sound of his own voice made him afraid. 

He went entirely around the tent once without making a 
sale, and when he returned to the stand he was at once con- 
vinced that one of his masters was quite as bad as the other. 
This one — and he knew that his name was Jacobs, for he 
heard some one call him so — very kindly told him that he 
would break every bone in his body if he didn’t sell some- 
thing, and Toby confidently believed that he would carry 
out his threat. 

It was with a very heavy heart that he started around 
again in obedience to Mr. Jacobs’s angry command ; but 
this time he did manage to cry out, in a very thin and very 
squeaky voice, the words which be had been told to repeat. 

This time — perhaps owing to his pitiful and imploring 
look, certainly not because of the noise he made — he met 
with very good luck, and sold every glass of the mixture 
which Messrs. Lord and Jacobs called lemonade, and went 
back to the stand for more. 

He certainly thought he had earned a word of praise, and 
fully expected it as he put the empty glasses and money on 
the stand in front of Mr. Jacobs. But, instead of the kind 
words, he was greeted with a volley of curses ; and the rea- 
son for it was that he had taken in payment for two of the 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


57 


glasses a lead ten -cent piece. Mr. Jacobs, after scolding 
poor little Toby to his heart’s content, vowed that the 
amount should be kept from his first week’s wages, and 
then handed back the coin, with orders to give it to the first 
man who gave him money to change, under the penalty of 
a severe flogging if he failed to do so. 

Poor Toby tried to explain matters by saying, “You 
see, I don’t know anything about money ; I never had 
more’n a cent at a time, an’ you mufetn’t expect me to get 
posted all at once.” 

“ I’ll post you with a stick if you do it again; an’ it won’t 
be well for you if you bring that ten-cent piece back here !” 

Now, Toby was very well aware that to pass the coin, 
knowing it to be bad, would be a crime, and he resolved to 
take the consequences of which Mr. Jacobs had intimated, 
if he could not find the one who had given him the coun- 
terfeit, and persuade him to give him good money in its 
stead. He remembered very plainly where he had sold 
each glass of lemonade, and he retraced his steps, glancing 
at each face carefully as he passed. At last he was con- 
fident that he saw the man who had gotten him into such 
trouble, and he climbed up the board seats, saying, as he 
stood in front of him and held out the coin, “ Mister, this 
money that you gave me is bad. Won’t you give me an 
other one for it ?” 


58 Toby Tyler ; or , 

The man was a rough-looking party who had taken his 
girl to the circus, and who did not seem at all disposed to 
pay any heed to Toby’s request. Therefore he repeated it, 
and this time more loudly. 

“ Get out the way !” said the man, angrily. “ How can you 
expect me to see the show if you stand right in front of me ?” 

“You’ll like it better,” said Toby, earnestly, “if you 
give me another ten-cent piece.” 

“ Get out, an’ don’t bother me !” was the angry rejoinder ; 
and the little fellow began to think that perhaps he would 
be obliged to “ get out ” without getting his money. 

It was becoming a desperate case, for the man was grow- 
ing angry very fast, and if Toby did not succeed in getting 
good money for the bad, he would have to take the conse- 
quences of which Mr. Jacobs had spoken. 

“ Please, mister,” he said, imploringly — for his heart be- 
gan to grow very heavy, and he was fearing that he should 
not succeed — “won’t you please give me the money back? 
You know you gave it to me, an’ I’ll have to pay it if you 
don’t.” 

The boy’s lip was quivering, and those around began to 
be interested in the affair, while several in the immediate 
vicinity gave vent to their indignation that a man should 
try to cheat a boy out of ten cents by giving him counter- 
feit money. 



“won’t you please give me the money back?’ 


y 









Ten Weeks with a Circus. 61 

The man whom Toby was speaking to was about to dis* 
miss him with an angry reply, when he saw that those about 
him were not only interested in the matter, but were evi- 
dently taking sides with the boy against him ; and knowing 
well that he had given the counterfeit money, he took am 
other coin from his pocket, and handing it to Toby, said, 
“I didn’t give you the lead piece; but you’re making such 
a fuss about it that here’s ten cents to make you keep 
quiet.” 

“ I’m sure you did give me the money,” said Toby, as he 
took the extended coin, “ an’ I’m much obliged to you for 
takin’ it back. I didn’t want to tell you before, ’cause 
you’d thought I was beggin’ ; but if you hadn’t given me 
this, I ’xpect I’d have got an awful whippin’, for Mr. Ja 
cobs said he’d fix me if I didn’t get the money for it.” 

The man looked sheepish enough as he put the bad mon- 
ey in his pocket, and Toby’s innocently told story caused 
such a feeling in his behalf among those who sat near that 
he not only disposed of his entire stock then and there, but 
received from one gentleman twenty-five cents for himself. 
He was both proud and happy as he returned to Mr. Ja- 
cobs with empty glasses, and with the money to refund 
the amount of loss which would have been caused by the 
counterfeit. 

But the worthy partner of Mr. Lord’s candy business had 


62 Toby Tyler ; or , 

no words of encouragement for the boy who was trying so 
hard to please. 

“Let that make you keep your eyes open,” he growled 
out, sulkily ; “ an’ if you get caught in that trap again, you 
won’t be let off so easy.” 

Poor little Toby ! his heart seemed ready to break ; but 
his few hours’ previous experience had taught him that 
there was but one thing to do, and that was to work just as 
hard as possible, trusting to some good fortune to enable 
him to get out of the very disagreeable position in which 
he had voluntarily placed himself. 

He took the basket of candy that Mr. Jacobs handed 
him, and trudged around the circle of seats, selling far 
more because of the pitifulness of his face than because 
of the excellence of his goods; and even this worked to 
his disadvantage. Mr. Jacobs was keen enough to see 
why his little clerk sold so many goods, and each time 
that he returned to the stand he said something to him 
in an angry tone, which had the effect of deepening the 
shadow on the boy’s face and at the same time increasing 
trade. 

By the time the performance was over Toby had in his 
pocket a dollar and twenty-five cents which had been given 
him for himself by some of the kind-hearted in the audi- 
ence, and he kept his hand almost constantly upon it, for 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 63 

the money seemed to him like some kind friend who would 
help him out of his present difficulties. 

After the audience had dispersed, Mr. Jacobs set Toby 
at work washing the glasses and clearing up generally, and 
then the boy started toward the other portion of the store 
— that watched over by Mr. Lord. Not a person save the 
watchmen was in the tent, and as Toby went toward the 
door he saw his friend the monkey sitting in one corner of 
the cage, and apparently watching his every movement. 

It was as if he had suddenly seen one of the boys from 
home, and Toby, uttering an exclamation of delight, ran up 
to the cage and put his hand through the wires. 

The monkey, in the gravest possible manner, took one of 
the fingers in his paw, and Toby shook hands with him very 
earnestly. 

“ I was sorry that I couldn’t speak to you when I went 
in this noon,” said Toby, as if making an apology ; “ but, 
you see, there were so many around here to see you that I 
couldn’t get the chance. Did you see me wink at you V 9 

The monkey made no reply, but he twisted his face into 
such a funny little grimace that Toby was quite as well sat- 
isfied as if he had spoken. 

“ I wonder if you hain’t some relation to Steve Stubbs ?” 
Toby continued, earnestly, “ for you look just like him, only 
he don’t have quite so many whiskers. What I wanted to 


64 Toby Tyler ; or, 

say was, that Pm awful sorry I run away. I used to think 
that Uncle Dan’l was bad enough; but he was just a per- 
fect good Samarathon to what Mr. Lord an’ Mr. Jacobs are ; 
an’ when Mr. Lord looks at me with that crooked eye of 
his, I feel it ’way down in my boots. Do you know ” — and 
here Toby put his mouth nearer to the monkey’s head and 
whispered — “I’d run away from this circus if I could get 
the chance ; wouldn’t you ?” 

Just at this point, as if in answer to the question, the 
monkey stood up on his hind-feet, and reached out his paw 
to the boy, who seemed to think this was his way of being 
more emphatic in saying “ Yes.” 

Toby took the paw in his hand, shook it again earnestly, 
and said, as he released it, “ I was pretty sure you felt just 
about the same way I did, Mr. Stubbs, when I passed you 
this noon. Look here ” — and Toby took the money from his 
pocket which had been given him — “ I got all that this af- 
ternoon, an’ I’ll try an’ stick it out somehow till I get as 
much as ten dollars, an’ then we’ll run away some night, an’ 
go ’way off as far as — as — as out West ; an’ we’ll stay there 
too.” 

The monkey, probably tired with remaining in one posi- 
tion so long, started toward the top of the cage, chattering 
and screaming, joining the other monkeys, who had gatb 
ered in a little group in one of the swings. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


«T 


65 


Now see here, Mr. Stubbs,” said Toby, in alarm, “ you 
mustn’t go to telling everybody about it, or Mr. Lord will 
know, an’ then we’ll be dished, sure.” 

The monkey sat quietly in the swing, as if he felt re- 
proved by what the boy had said ; and Toby, considerably 
% relieved by his silence, said, as he started toward the door, 
“ That’s right — mum’s the word ; you keep quiet, an’ so 
will I, an’ pretty soon we’ll get away from the whole 


crowd.” 

All the monkeys chattered; and Toby, believing that 
everything which he had said had been understood by the 
animals, went out of the door to meet his other task- 
master 




66 


Toby Tyler ; or y 



^ O W, then, lazy-bones,” was Mr. Lord’s warning 
cry as Toby came out of the tent, “if you’ve 
fooled away enough of your time, you can come 
here an’ tend shop for me while I go to supper. 


A TENDER-HEARTED SKELETON. 


Chapter VI. 




You crammed yourself this noon, an’ it’ll teach you a good 
lesson to make you go without anything to eat to-night ; it’ll 
make you move round more lively in future.” 

Instead of becoming accustomed to such treatment as he 
was receiving from his employers, Toby’s heart grew more 
tender with each brutal word, and this last punishment — 
that of losing his supper — caused the poor boy more sorrow 
than blows would. Mr. Lord started for the hotel as he con- 
cluded his cruel speech ; and poor little Toby, going behind 
the counter, leaned his head upon the rough boards and 
cried as if his heart would break. 

All the fancied brightness and pleasure of a circus life 
had vanished, and in its place was the bitterness of remorse 
that he had repaid Uncle Daniel’s kindness by the ingrath 


■ 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


6 7 


tude of funning away. Toby thought that if he could only 
nestle his little red head on the pillows of his little bed in 
that rough room at Uncle Daniel’s, he would be the hap- 
piest and best boy, in the future, in all the great wide world. 

While he was still sobbing away at a most furious rate he 
heard a voice close at his elbow, and, looking up, saw the 
j thinnest man he had ever seen in all his life. The man had 
flesh-colored tights on, and a spangled red velvet garment — 
that was neither pants, because there were no legs to it, nor 
a coat, because it did not come above his waist — made up 
the remainder of his costume. Because he was so wonder- 
fully thin, because of the costume which he wore, and be- 
cause of a highly colored painting which was hanging in 
front of one of the small tents, Toby knew that the Living 
Skeleton was before him, and his big brown eyes opened all 
the wider as he gazed at him. 

“What is the matter, little fellow?” asked the man, in a 
kindly tone. “ What makes you cry so ? Has Job been up 
to his old tricks again ?” 

“ I don’t know what his old tricks are ” — and Toby sob- 
bed, the tears coming again because of the sympathy which 
this man’s voice expressed for him — “ but I know that he’s 
a mean, ugly thing — that’s what I know ; an’ if I could only 
get back to Uncle Dan’l, there hain’t elephants enough in 
all the circuses in the world to pull me away again.” 


68 


Toby Tyler ; or , 


» >. 

< 1 -V 
Jk 

r 


“ Oh, you run away from home, did you ?” 

“ Yes, I did,” sobbed Toby, “ an’ there hain’t any boy in 
any Sunday-school book that ever I read that was half so 
sorry he’d been bad as I am. It’s awful ; an’ now I can’t 
have any supper, ’cause I stopped to talk with Mr. Stubbs.” *• 

“ Is Mr. Stubbs one of your friends ?” asked the skeleton * *■ 
as he seated himself in Mr. Lord’s own private chair. 

“ Yes, he is, an’ he’s the only one in this whole circus who " 
’pears to be sorry for me. You’d better not let Mr. Lord see 
you sittin’ in that chair, or he’ll raise a row.” 

“Job won’t raise any row with me,” said the skeleton. 

“ But who is this Mr. Stubbs ? I don’t seem to know any- 
body by that name.” 

“I don’t think that is his name. I only call him so, 
’cause he looks so much like a feller I know who is named 
Stubbs.” 

This satisfied the skeleton that this Mr. Stubbs must be 
some one attached to the show, and he asked, 

“Has Job been whipping you?” 

“ No ; Ben, the driver on the wagon where I ride, told him 
not to do that again; but he hain’t going to let me have 
any supper, ’cause I was so slow about my work — though I 
wasn’t slow ; I only talked to Mr. Stubbs when there wasn’t 
anybody round his cage.” 

“Sam! Sam! Sam-u-el!” 



Ten Weeks with a Circus . 69 

This name, which was shouted twice in a quick, loud 
voice, and the third time in a slow manner, ending almost 
in a screech, did not come from either Toby or the skeleton, 
but from an enormously large woman, dressed in a gaudy 
red-and-black dress, cut very short, and with low neck and 
an apology for sleeves, who had just come out from the tent 
whereon the picture of the Living Skeleton hung. 

“ Samuel,” she screamed again, “ come inside this minute, 
or you’ll catch your death o’ cold, an’ I shall have you 
wheezin’ around with the phthisic all night. Come in, 
Sam-u-el.” 

“ That’s her,” said the skeleton to Toby, as he pointed his 
thumb in the direction of the fat woman, but paying no at- 
tention to the outcry she was making — “ that’s my wife Lilly, 
an’ she’s the Fat Woman of the show. She’s always yellin’ 
after me that way the minute I get out for a kittle fresh air, 
an’ she’s always sayin’ just the same thing. Bless you, I 
never have the phthisic, but she does awful; an’ I s’pose 
’cause she’s so large she can’t feel all over her, an’ thinks it’s 
me that has it.” 

“ Is — is all that — is that your wife ?” stammered Toby, in 
astonishment, as he looked at the enormously fat woman 
who stood in the tent door, and then at the wonderfully 
thin man who sat beside him. 

“ Yes, that’s her,” said the skeleton. “ She weighs pretty 


70 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

nigh four hundred, though of course the show cards says it’s 
over six hundred, an’ she earns almost as much money as I 
do. Of course she can’t get so much, for skeletons is much 
scarcer than fat folks; but we make a pretty good thing 
travellin’ together.” 

“Sam-u-el!” again came the cry from the fat woman, 
“ are you never coming in ?” 

“Not yet, my angel,” said the skeleton, placidly, as he 
crossed one thin leg over the other and looked calmly at 
her. “ Come here an’ see Job’s new boy.” 

“ Your imprudence is wearin’ me away so that I sha’n’t 
be worth five dollars a week to any circus,” she said, impa- 
tiently, at the same time coming toward the candy stand 
quite as rapidly as her very great size would admit. 

“ This is my wife Lilly — Mrs. Treat,” said the skeleton, 
with a proud wave of his hand, as he rose from his seat and 
gazed admiringly at her. “ This is my flower — my queen, 
Mr. — Mr. — ” 

“ Tyler,” said Toby, supplying the name which the skel- 
eton — or Mr. Treat, as Toby now learned his name was — 
did not know ; “ Tyler is my name — Toby Tyler.” 

“ Why, what a little chap you are !” said Mrs. Treat, 
paying no attention to the awkward little bend of the 
head which Toby intended for a bow. “ How small he is, 
Samuel !” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 71 

“ Yes,” said the skeleton, reflectively, as he looked Toby 
over from head to foot, as if he were mentally trying to 
calculate exactly how many inches high he was, “he is 
small ; but he’s got all the world before him to grow in, an’ 
if he only eats enough — There, that reminds me. Job 
isn’t going to give him any supper, because he didn’t work 
hard enough.” 

“ He won’t, won’t he ?” exclaimed the large lady, savagely. 
“Oh, he’s a precious one, he is; an’ some day I shall just 
give him a good shakin’-up, that’s what I’ll do. I get all 
out of patience with that man’s ugliness.” 

“ An’ she’ll do just what she says,” said the skeleton to 
Toby, with an admiring shake of the head. “ That woman 
hain’t afraid of anybody, an’ I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if 
she did give Job a pretty rough time.” 

Toby thought, as he looked at her, that she was large 
enough to give ’most any one a pretty rough time, but he 
did not venture to say so. While he was looking first at her, 
and then at her very thin husband, the skeleton told his wife 
the little that he had learned regarding the boy’s history; 
and when he had concluded she waddled away toward her 
tent. 

"“ Great woman that,” said the skeleton, as he saw her dis- 
appear within the tent. 

“Yes,” said Toby, “she’s the greatest I ever saw.” 


72 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

“I mean that she’s got a great head. Now you’ll see 
about how much she cares for what Job says.” 

“ If I was as big as her,” said Toby, with just a shade of 
envy in his voice, “ I wouldn’t be afraid of anybody.” 

“ It hain’t so much the size,” said the skeleton, sagely — 
“ it hain’t so much the size, my boy ; for I can scare that 
woman almost to death when I feel like it.” 

Toby looked for a moment at Mr. Treat’s thin legs and 
arms, and then he said, warningly, 66 1 wouldn’t feel like it 
very often if I was you, Mr. Treat, ’cause she might break 
some of your bones if you didn’t happen to scare her 
enough.” 

“ Don’t fear for me, my boy — don’t fear for me ; you’ll 
see how I manage her if you stay with the circus long 
enough. Now, I often — ” 

If Mr. Treat was about to confide a family secret to Toby, 
it was fated that he should not hear it then, for Mrs. Treat 
had just come out of her tent, carrying in her hands a large 
tin plate piled high with a miscellaneous assortment of pie, 
cake, bread, and meat. 

She placed this in front of Toby, and as she did so she 
handed him two pictures. 

“ There, little Toby Tyler,” she said — “ there’s something 
for you to eat, if Mr. Job Lord and his precious partner 
Jacobs did say you shouldn’t have any supper; an’ I’ve 



TOBY GETS HIS SUPPER, 


t 

( 

r 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


75 


brought you a picture of Samuel an’ me. We sell ’em for 
ten cents apiece, but I’m going to give them to you, because 
I like the looks of you.” 

Toby was quite overcome with the presents, and seemed 
at a loss how to thank her for them. He attempted to 
speak, but could not get the words out at first ; and then he 
said, as he put the two photographs in the same pocket with 
his money, “ You’re awful good to me, an’ when I get to be 
a man I’ll give you lots of things. I wasn’t so very hungry, 
if I am such a big eater, but I did want something.” 

u Bless your dear little heart, and you shall have some- 
thing to eat,” said the Fat Woman, as she seized Toby, 
squeezed him close up to her, and kissed his freckled face 
as kindly as if it had been as fair and white as possible. 
“ You shall eat all you want to ; an’ if you get the stomach- 
ache, as Samuel does sometimes when he’s been eatin’ too 
much, I’ll give you some catnip-tea out of the same dipper 
that I give him his. He’s a great eater, Samuel is,” she 
added, in a burst of confidence, “ an’ it’s a wonder to me 
what he does with it all sometimes.” 

“ Is he ?” exclaimed Toby, quickly. “ How funny that is ! 
for I’m an awful eater. Why, Uncle Dan’l used to say that 
I ate twice as much as I ought to, an’ it never made me any 
bigger. I wonder what’s the reason ?” 

“I declare I don’t know,” said the Fat Woman, thought- 


76 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

fully, “ an’ I’ve wondered at it time an’ time again. Some 
folks is made that way, an’ some folks is made different. 
Now, I don’t eat enough to keep a chicken alive, an’ yet I 
grow fatter an’ fatter every day — don’t I, Samuel V 

“ Indeed you do, my love,” said the skeleton, with a world 
of pride in his voice; “but you mustn’t feel bad about it, 
for every pound you gain makes you worth just so much 
more to the show.” 

“ Oh, I wasn’t worryin’, I was only wonderin’. But we 
must go, Samuel, for the poor child won’t eat a bit while 
we are here. After you’ve eaten what there is there, bring 
the plate in to me,” she said to Toby, as she took her lean 
husband by the arm and walked him off toward their own 
tent. 

Toby gazed after them a moment, and then he com- 
menced a vigorous attack upon the eatables which had been 
so kindly given him. Of the food which he had taken from 
the dinner -table he had eaten some while he was in the 
tent, and after that he had entirely forgotten that he had 
any in his pocket ; therefore, at the time that Mrs. Treat 
had brought him such a liberal supply he was really very 
hungry. 

He succeeded in eating nearly all the food which had 
been brought to him, and the very small quantity which re- 
mained he readily found room for in his pockets. Then 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


77 


he washed the plate nicely ; and seeing no one in sight, he 
thought he could leave the booth long enough to return the 
plate. 

He ran with it quickly into the tent occupied by the thin 
man and fat woman, and handed it to her, with a profusion 
of thanks for her kindness. 

“ Did you eat it all ?” she asked. 

“ Well,” hesitated Toby, “ there was two doughnuts an’ a 
piece of pie left over, an’ I put them in my pocket. If you 
don’t care, I’ll eat them some time to-night.” 

“ You shall eat it whenever you want to ; an’ any time 
that you get hungry again, you come right to me.” 

“ Thank you, marm. I must go now, for I left the store 
all alone.” 

“ Run, then ; an’ if Job Lord abuses you, just let me know 
it, an’ I’ll keep him from cuttin’ up any monkey shines.” 

Toby hardly heard the end of her sentence, so great was 
his haste to get back to the booth ; and just as he emerged 
from the tent, on a quick run, he received a blow on the ear 
which sent him sprawling in the dust, and he heard Mr. Job 
Lord’s angry voice as it said, “ So, just the moment my back 
is turned, you leave the stand to take care of itself, do you, 
an’ run around tryin’ to plot some mischief against me, eh ?” 
And the brute kicked the prostrate boy twice with his heavy 
boot. 


78 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

“ Please don’t kick me again !” pleaded Toby. “ I wasn't 
gone but a minute, an’ I wasn’t doing anything bad.” 

“You’re lying now, an’ you know it, you young cub!” 
exclaimed the angry man as he advanced to kick the boy 
again. “ I’ll let you know who you’ve got to deal with 
when you get hold of me !” 

“ And I’ll let you know who you’ve got to deal with when 
you get hold of me !” said a woman’s voice ; and, just as 
Mr. Lord raised his foot to kick the boy again, the Fat 
Woman seized him by the collar, jerked him back over one 
of the tent ropes, and left him quite as prostrate as he had 
left Toby. “Now, Job Lord,” said the angry woman, as 
she towered above the thoroughly enraged but thoroughly 
frightened man, “ I want you to understand that you can’t 
knock and beat this boy while I’m around. I’ve seen enough 
of your capers, an’ I’m going to put a stop to them. That 
boy wasn’t in this tent more than two minutes, an’ he at- 
tends to his work better than any one you have ever had ; 
so see that you treat him decent. Get up,” she said to Toby, 
who had not dared to rise from the ground ; “ and if he 
offers to strike you again, come to me.” 

Toby scrambled to his feet, and ran to the booth in time 
to attend to one or two customers who had just come up. 
He could see from out the corner of his eye that Mr. Lord 
had arisen to his feet also, and was engaged in an angry 



JOB LORD LEARNS A LESSON, 


V’v 




Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


81 



conversation with Mrs. Treat, the result of which he very 
much feared would be another and a worse whipping for 
him. 

But in this he was mistaken, for Mr. Lord, after the con- 
versation was ended, came toward the booth, and began to 
attend to his business without speaking one word to Toby. 
When Mr. Jacobs returned from his supper Mr. Lord took 
him by the arm and walked him out toward the rear of 
the tents; and Toby was very positive that he was to be 
the subject of their conversation, which made him not a 
little uneasy. 

It was not until nearly time for the performance to begin 
that Mr. Lord returned, and he had nothing to say to Toby 
save to tell him to go into the tent and begin his work there. 
The boy was only too glad to escape so easily, and he went 
to his work with as much alacrity as if he were about enter- 
ing upon some pleasure. 

When he met Mr. Jacobs that gentleman spoke to him 
very sharply about being late, and seemed to think it no ex- 
cuse at all that he had just been relieved from the outside 
work by Mr. Lord. 


82 


Toby Tyler ; or> 


Chapter VII. 

AN ACCIDENT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

OBY’S experience in the evening was very simi- 
lar to that of the afternoon, save that he was so 
fortunate as not to take any more bad money in 
payment for his goods. Mr. Jacobs scolded and 
swore alternately, and the boy really surprised him by his 
way of selling goods, though he was very careful not to say 
anything about it, but made Toby believe that he was doing 
only about half as much work as he ought to do. Toby’s 
private hoard of money was increased that evening, by 
presents, ninety cents, and he began to look upon himself 
as almost a rich man. 

When the performance was nearly over Mr. Jacobs call- 
ed to him to help in packing up ; and by the time the last 
spectator had left the tent the worldly possessions of Messrs. 

Lord and Jacobs were ready for removal, and Toby allow- 
ed to do as he had a mind to, so long as he was careful to 
be on hand when Old Ben was ready to start. 

Toby thought that he would have time to pay a visit to 

: u 



Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


83 


his friends the skeleton and the Fat Woman, and to that end 
started toward the place where their tent had been stand- 
ing; but to his sorrow he found that it was already being 
taken down, and he had only time to thank Mrs. Treat and 
to press the fleshless hand of her shadowy husband as they 
entered their wagon to drive away. 

He was disappointed, for he had hoped to be able to 
speak with his new-made friends a few moments before the 
weary night’s ride commenced ; but, failing in that, he went 
hastily back to the monkeys’ cage. Old Ben was there, get- 
ting things ready for a start; but the wooden sides of the 
cage had not been put up, and Toby had no difficulty in 
calling the aged monkey up to the bars. He held one of 
the Fat Woman’s doughnuts in his hand, and said, as he 
passed it through to the animal, 

“ I thought perhaps you might be hungry, Mr. Stubbs, 
and this is some of what the skeleton’s wife give me. I 
hain’t got very much time to talk with you now ; but the 
first chance I can get away to-morrow, an’ when there 
hain’t anybody ’round, I want to tell you something.” 

The monkey had taken the doughnut in his hand -like 
paws, and was tearing it to pieces, eating small portions of 
it very rapidly. 

“ Don’t hurry yourself,” said Toby, warningly, “for TJn- 
cl& Daii’l always told me the worst thing a feller could do 



was to eat fast. If you want any more, after we start, just 
put your hand through the little hole up there near the 
seat, an’ I’ll give you all you want.” 

From the look on his face Toby confidently believed the 
monkey was about to make some reply; but just then Ben 
shut up the sides, separating Toby and Mr. Stubbs, and the 
order was given to start. 

Toby clambered up on to the high seat, Ben followed 
him, and in another instant the team was moving along 
slowly down the dusty road, preceded and followed by the 
many wagons, with their tiny swinging lights. 

“ Well,” said Ben, when he had got his team well under 
way, and felt that he could indulge in a little conversation, 

“ how did you get along to-day ?” 

Toby related all of his movements, and gave the driver a 
faithful account of all that had happened to him, conclud- 
ing his story by saying, “ That was one of Mrs. Treat’s 
doughnuts that I just gave to Mr. Stubbs.” 

“ To whom ?” asked Ben, in surprise. 

“To Mr. Stubbs — the old fellow here in the cart, you 
know, that’s been so good to me.” 

Toby heard a sort of gurgling sound, saw the driver’6 
body sway back and forth in a trembling way, and was just 
becoming thoroughly alarmed, when he thought of the 
previous night, and understood that Ben was only laugh- 
ing in his own peculiar way. > 


Ten IVeeks with a Circus . 85 

“How did you know his name was Stubbs?” asked Ben, 
after he had recovered his breath. 

“ Oh, I don’t know that that is his real name,” was the 
quick reply; “I only call him that because he looks so 
much like a feller with that name that I knew at home. 
He don’t seem to mind because I call him Stubbs.” 

Ben looked at Toby earnestly for a moment, acting all 
the time as if he wanted to laugh again, but didn’t dare to, 
for fear he might burst a blood-vessel ; and then he said, as 
he patted him on the shoulder, “ Well, you are the queerest 
little fish that I ever saw in all my travels. You seem to 
think that that monkey knows all you say to him.” 

“I’m sure he does,” said Toby, positively. “He don’t 
say anything right out to me, but he knows everything I 
tell him. Do you suppose he could talk if he tried to ?” 

“Look here, Mr. Toby Tyler” — and Ben turned half 
around in his seat and looked Toby full in the face, so as to 
give more emphasis to his words — “ are you heathen enough 
to think that that monkey could talk if he wanted to?” 

“ I know I hain’t a heathen,” said Toby, thoughtfully, 
“for if I had been some of the missionaries would have 
found me out a good while ago ; but I never saw anybody 
like this old Mr. Stubbs before, an’ I thought he could 
talk if he wanted to, just as the Living Skeleton does, 
or his wife. Anyhow, Mr. Stubbs winks at me; an* how 


86 Toby Tyler ; or, 

could he do that if he didn’t know what I’ve been sayin’ 
to him ?” 

“ Look here, my son,” said Ben, in a most fatherly fash- 
ion, “monkeys hain’t anything but beasts, an’ they don’t know 
how to talk any more than they know what you say to ’em.” 

“ Didn’t you ever hear any of them speak a word ?” 

“Never. I’ve been in a circus, man an’ boy, nigh on to 
forty years, an’ I never seen nothin’ in a monkey more’n 
any other beast, except their awful mischiefness.” 

“ Well,” said Toby, still unconvinced, “ I believe Mr. 
Stubbs knows what I say to him, anyway.” 

“Now. don’t be foolish, Toby,” pleaded Ben. “You 
can’t show me one thing that a monkey ever did because 
you told him to.” 

Just at that moment Toby felt some one pulling at the 
back of his coat, and looking round he saw it was a little 
brown hand, reaching through the bars of the air-hole of 
the cage, that was tugging away at his coat. 

“ There !” he said, triumphantly, to Ben. “ Look there ! 
I told Mr. Stubbs if he wanted anything more to eat, to 
tell me, an’ I would give it to him. Now you can see for 
yourself that he’s come for it.” And Toby took a doughnut 
from his pocket and put it into the tiny hand, which was 
immediately withdrawn. “ Now what do you think of Mr. 
Stubbs knowing what I say to him 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 87 

u They often stick their paws up through there,” said Ben, 
in a matter-of-fact tone. “ I’ve had ’em pull my coat in the 
night till they made me as nervous as ever any old woman 
was. You see, Toby, my boy, monkeys is monkeys ; an’ you 
mustn’t go to gettin’ the idea that they’re anything else, 
for it’s a mistake. You think this old monkey in here 
knows what you say? Why, that’s just the cuteness of the 
old fellow: he watches you to see if he can’t do just as 
you do, an’ that’s all there is about it.” 

Toby was more than half convinced that Ben was putting 
the matter in its proper light, and he would have believed 
all that had been said if, just at that moment, he had not 
seen that brown hand reaching through the hole to clutch 
him again by the coat. 

The action seemed so natural, so like a hungry boy who 
gropes in the dark pantry for something to eat, that it would 
have taken more arguments than Ben had at his disposal to 
persuade Toby that his Mr. Stubbs could not understand all 
that was said to him. Toby put another doughnut in the 
outstretched hand, and then sat silently, as if in a brown- 
study over some difficult problem. 

For some time the ride was continued in silence. Ben 
was going through all the motions of whistling without ut- 
tering a sound — a favorite amusement of his — and Toby’s 
thoughts were far away in the humble home he had scorn- 


88 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

ed, with Uncle Daniel, whose virtues had increased in his 
esteem with every mile of distance which had been put be- 
tween them, and whose faults had decreased in a corre- 
sponding ratio. 

Toby’s thoughtfulness had made him sleepy, and his eyes 
were almost closed in slumber, when he was startled by a 
crashing sound, was conscious of a feeling of being hurled 
from his seat by some great force, and then he lay senseless 
by the side of the road, while the wagon became a perfect 
wreck, from out of which a small army of monkeys was 
escaping. Ben’s experienced ear had told him at the first 
crash that his wagon was breaking down, and, without hav- 
ing time to warn Toby of his peril, he had leaped clear of 
the wreck, keeping his horses under perfect control, and 
thus averting more trouble. It was the breaking of one of 
the axles which Toby had heard just before he was thrown 
from his seat, and when the body of the wagon came down 
upon the hard road. 

The monkeys, thus suddenly released from confinement, 
had scampered off in every direction, and by a singular 
chance Toby’s aged friend started for the woods in such a 
direction as to bring him directly before the boy’s insensi- 
ble form. The monkey, on coming up to Toby, stopped, 
urged by the well-known curiosity of its race, and began to 
examine the boy’s person carefully, prying into pockets 









Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


9 * 


and trying to open the boy’s half-closed eyelids. Fortunate* 
ly for Toby, he had fallen upon a mud-bank, and was only 
stunned for the moment, having received no serious bruises. 
The attentions bestowed upon him by the monkey served 
the purpose of bringing him to his senses; and, after he 
had looked around him in the gray light of the coming 
morning, it would have taken far more of a philosopher 
than Old Ben was to persuade the boy that monkeys did 
not possess reasoning faculties. 

The monkey was busy at Toby’s ears, nose, and mouth, 
as monkeys will do when they get an opportunity, and the 
expression of its face was as grave as possible. Toby firm- 
ly believed that the monkey’s face showed sorrow at his 
fall, and he imagined that the attentions which were be- 
stowed upon him were for the purpose of learning whether 
he had been injured or not. 

“ Don’t worry, Mr. Stubbs,” said Toby, anxious to reassure 
his friend, as he sat upright and looked about him. “ I 
didn’t get hurt any ; but I would like to know how I got 
’way over here.” 

It really seemed as if the monkey was pleased to know 
that his little friend was not hurt, for he seated himself on 
his haunches, and his face expressed the liveliest pleasure 
that Toby was well again — or at least that was how the 
boy interpreted the look. 


92 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

By this time the news of the accident had been shouted 
ahead from one team to the other, and all hands were hur- 
rying to the scene for the purpose of rendering aid. As 
Toby saw them coming he also saw a number of small 
forms, looking something like diminutive men, hurrying 
past him, and for the first time he understood how it was 
that the aged monkey was at liberty, and knew that those 
little dusky forms were the other occupants of the cage es- 
caping to the woods. 

“ See there, Mr. Stubbs ! see there !” he exclaimed, point- 
ing toward the fugitives; “they’re all going off: into the 
woods ! What shall we do ?” 

The sight of the runaways seemed to excite the old 
monkey quite as much as it did the boy. He sprung to 
his feet, chattering in the most excited way, screamed two 
or three times, as if he were calling them back, and then 
started off in vigorous pursuit. 

“ How he’s gone too !” said Toby, disconsolately, believing 
the old fellow had run away from him. “ I didn’t think 
Mr. Stubbs would treat me this way !” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


93 


Chapter VIII. 

CAPTURE OF THE MONKEYS. 

HE boy tried to rise to his feet, but his head 
rjjE w ^^ r ^ e< I so > a11 ^ felt 80 dizzy and sick from the 
effects of his fall, that he was obliged to sit down 
again until he should feel able to stand. Mean- 
while the crowd around the wagon paid no attention to him, 
and he lay there quietly enough, until he heard the hateful 
voice of Mr. Lord, asking if his boy were hurt. 

The sound of his voice affected Toby very much as the 
chills-and-fever affect a sufferer, and he shook so with fear, 
and his heart beat so loudly, that he thought Mr. Lord must 
know where he was by the sound. Seeing, however, that his 
employer did not come directly toward him, the thought 
flashed upon his mind that now T would be a good chance 
to run away, and he acted upon it at once. He rolled him- 
self over in the mud until he reached a low growth of fir- 
trees that skirted the road, and when beneath their friend- 
ly shade he arose to his feet and walked swiftly toward the 
woods, following the direction the monkeys had taken. 


94 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

lie no longer felt dizzy and sick : the fear of Mr. Lord 
had dispelled all that, and he felt strong and active again. 

He had walked rapidly for some distance, and was nearly 
beyond the sound of the voices in the road, when he was 
startled by seeing quite a procession of figures emerge from 
the trees and come directly toward him. 

He could not understand the meaning of this strange 
company, and it so frightened him that he attempted to hide 
behind a tree, in the hope that they might pass without see- 
ing him. But no sooner had he secreted himself than a 
strange, shrill chattering came from the foremost of the 
group, and in an instant Toby emerged from his place of 
concealment. 

lie had recognized the peculiar sound as that of the old 
monkey who had left him a few moments before, and he 
knew now what he did not know then, owing to the dark- 
ness. The new-comers were the monkeys that had escaped 
from the cage, and had been overtaken and compelled to 
come back by the old monkey, who seemed to have the most 
perfect control over them. 

The old fellow was leading the band, and all were linked 
“ hand -ii:- hand” with each other, which gave the whole 
crowd a most comical appearance as they came up to Toby, 
half hopping, half walking upright, and all chattering and 
screaming, like a crowd of children out for a holiday. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


95 


Toby stepped toward the noisy crowd, held out his hand 
gravely to the old monkey, and said, in tones of heart-felt 
sorrow, 

“ I felt awful bad because I thought you had gone off an’ 
left me, when you only went off to find the other fellows. 
You’re awful good, Mr. Stubbs; an’ now, instead of runnin’ 
away, as I was goin’ to do, we’ll all go back together.” 

The old monkey grasped Toby’s extended hand with 
his disengaged paw, and, clinging firmly to it, the whole 
crowd followed in unbroken line, chattering and scolding 
at the most furious rate, while every now and then Mr. 
Stubbs would look back and scream out something, which 
would cause the confusion to cease for an instant. 

It was really a comical sight, but Toby seemed to think it 
the most natural thing in the world that they should follow 
him in this manner, and he chattered to the old monkey 
quite as fast as any of the others were doing. He told him 
very gravely all that he knew about the accident, explained 
why it was that he conceived the idea of running away, and 
really believed that Mr. Stubbs understood every word he 
was saying. 

Very shortly after Toby had started to run away the pro- 
prietor of the circus drove up to the scene of disaster; 
and, after seeing that the wagon was being rapidly fixed up 
so that it could be hauled to the next town, he ordered that 


9 6 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

search should be made for the monkeys. It was very impor 
tant that they should be captured at once, and he appeared 
to think more of the loss of the animals than of the damage 
done to the wagon. 

While the men were forming a plan for a search for the 
truants, so that in case of a capture they could let each 
other know, the noise made by Toby and his party was 
heard, and the men stood still to learn what it meant. 

The entire party burst into shouts of laughter as Toby 
and his companions walked into the circle of light formed 
by the glare of the lanterns, and the merriment was by no 
means abated at Toby’s serious demeanor. The wagon was 
now standing upright, with the door open, and Toby there- 
fore led his companions directly to it, gravely motioning 
them to enter. 

The old monkey, instead of obeying, stepped back to 
Toby’s side, and screamed to the others in such a manner 
that they all entered the cage, leaving him on the outside 
with the boy. 

Toby motioned him to get in too, but he clung to his 
hand, and scolded so furiously, that it was apparent he had 
no idea of leaving his boy companion. One of the men 
stepped up, and was about to force him into the wagon, 
when the proprietor ordered him to stop. 

“What boy is that?” he asked. 



BRINGING BACK THIS RDNAWAY8, 



Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


99 


“ Job Lord’s new boy,” said some one in the crowd. 

The man asked Toby how it was that he had succeeded in 
capturing all the runaways ; and he answered, gravely, 

“ Mr. Stubbs an’ I are good friends, an’ when he saw the 
others runnin’ away he just stopped ’em, an’ brought ’em 
back to me. I wish you’d let Mr. Stubbs ride with me ; we 
like each other a good deal.” 

“ You can do just what you please with Mr. Stubbs, as 
you call him. I expected to lose half the monkeys in that 
cage, and you have brought back every one. That monkey 
shall be yours, and you may put him in the cage whenever 
you want to, or take him with you, just as you choose, for 
he belongs entirely to you.” 

Toby’s joy knew no bounds ; he put his arm around the 
monkey’s neck, and the monkey clung firmly to him, until 
even Job Lord was touched at the evidence of affection be- 
tween the two. 

While the wagon was being repaired Toby and the mon- 
key stood hand-in-hand watching the work go on, while 
those in the cage scolded and raved because they had been 
induced to return to captivity. After a while the old mon- 
key seated himself on Toby’s arm and cuddled close up to 
him, uttering now and then a contented sort of a little 
squeak as the boy talked to him. 

That night Mr. Stubbs slept in Toby’s arms, in the band 

L Oi v. 


IOO 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

wagon, and both boy and monkey appeared very 
tented with their lot, which a short time previous had 
seemed so hard. 

When Toby awakened to his second day’s work with the 
circus his monkey friend was seated by his side, gravely ex- 
ploring his pockets, and all the boy’s treasures were being 
spread out on the floor of the wagon by his side. Toby re- 
monstrated with him on this breach of confidence, but Mr. 
Stubbs was more in the mood for sport than for grave con- 
versation, and the more Toby talked the more mischievous 
did he become, until at length the boy gathered up his little 
store of treasures, took the monkey by the paw, and walked 
him toward the cage from which he had escaped on the pre- 
vious night. 

“Now, Mr. Stubbs,” said Toby, speaking in an injured 
tone, “you must go in here and stay till I have got more 
time to fool with you.” 

He opened the door of the cage, but the monkey strug- 
gled as well as he was able, and Toby was obliged to exert 
all his strength to put him in. 

When once the door was fastened upon him Toby tried 
to impress upon his monkey friend’s mind the importance of 
being more sedate, and he was convinced that the words 
had sunk deep into Mr. Stubbs’s heart, for, by the time he 
had concluded, the old monkey was seated in the corner of 



IOI 


Ten VVerks wit/ ' a Ctrcm. 

the cage, looking up from unP er llis sha SgY eyebrows in the 
,-ost reproachful manner poi -“ble. 

Toby fe’ '/ . jrry that he had s P oken 80 harshl y> and waa 
al \; i^ make amends for his severity, when Mr. Lord’s 
gr'- f voice recalled hj-* to ftefact that his time was not 
his ovv ; , he therJore commenced his day’s work, but 
witf\*a lighter heart than he had had since he stole away 
froiM Uncle Daniel and Guilford. 

^jFliis day was not very much different ^/ 0111 the pr^ce&np 
one so far as the manner of Mr. Lord and his pa/f* er toward 
the boy was concerned ; they seemed H have an idea ^t 
he was doing only about half as much work ought to,^ 
and both united in swearing at and abusing him as much as 
possible. 

So far as his relations with other members of the com- 
pany were concerned, Toby now stood in a much better po- 
sition than before. Those who had witnessed the scene 
told the others how Toby had led in the monkeys on the 
night previous, and nearly every member of the company 
had a kind word for the little fellow whose head could 
hardly be seen above the counter of Messrs. Lord and 
Jacobs’s booth. 


Chapter IX: ' P • 

THE DINNER- PA 'TY. ' -\k ♦* . .. *' 

\ .v v * §$» 

T n^b'r^ob^ wfl/ thoroughly tired out, for wheffc^.^ 
^ ;ever any jRghpdke' kindly* to him Mr. Lord seem- 
^ ^ ,4j 5 S&tfo^take a malicious pleasure in giving him 
J^^iextra /tasks to do, until Toby began to hope that 
no one'eIsfc.\fould P a y an y attention to him. On this day 
he was permitted to go to dinner first, and after he return- 
ed he was left in charge of the booth. Trade being dull — 
as it usually was during the dinner hour — he had very little 
work to do after he had cleaned the glasses and set things 
to rights generally. 

When, therefore, he saw the gaunt form of the skeleton 
emerge from his tent and come toward him he was partic- 
ularly pleased, for he had begun to think very kindly of the 
thin man and his fleshy wife. 

“Well, Toby,” said the skeleton, as he came up to the 
booth, carefully dusted Mr. Lord’s private chair, and sat 
down very cautiously in it, as if he expected that it would 
break down under his weight, “ T hear you’ve been making 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 103 

quite a hero of yourself by capturing the monkeys last 
night.” 

Toby’s freckled face reddened with pleasure as he heard 
these words, and he stammered out, with considerable dif- 
ficulty, “ I didn’t do anything; it was Mr. Stubbs that 
brought ’em back.” 

“Mr. Stubbs!” And the skeleton laughed so heartily 
that Toby was afraid he would dislocate some of his thinly- 
covered joints. “When you was tellin’ about Mr. Stubbs 
yesterday I thought you meant some one belonging to the 
company. You ought to have seen my wife Lilly shake 
with laughing when I told her who Mr. Stubbs was !” 

“ Yes,” said Toby, at a loss to know just what to say, 
“ I should think she would shake when she laughs.” 

“She does,” replied the skeleton. “If you could see 
her when something funny strikes her you’d think she was 
one of those big plates of jelly that they have in the bake- 
shop windows.” And Mr. Treat looked proudly at the gaudy 
picture which represented his wife in all her monstrosity of 
flesh. “ She’s a great woman, Toby, an’ she’s got a great 
head.” 

Toby nodded his head in assent. He would have liked 
to have said something nice regarding Mrs. Treat, but he 
really did not know what to say, so he simply contented 
himself and the fond husband by nodding. 


104 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

“ She thinks a good deal of you, Toby,” continued the 
skeleton, as he moved his chair to a position more favorable 
for him to elevate his feet on the edge of the counter, and 
placed his handkerchief under him as a cushion; “she’s 
talking of you all the time, and if you wasn’t such a little 
fellow I should begin to be jealous of you — I should, upon 
my word.” 

“ You’re — both — very — good,” stammered Toby, so 
weighted down by a sense of the honor heaped upon him 
as to be at a loss for words. 

“ An’ she wants to see more of you. She made me come 
out here now, when she knew Mr. Lord would be away, to 
tell you that we’re goin’ to have a little kind of a friendly 
dinner in our tent to-morrow — she’s cooked it all herself, 
or she’s going to — and we want you to come in an’ have 
some with us.” 

Toby’s eyes glistened at the thought of the unexpected 
pleasure, and then his face grew sad as he replied, “ I’d like 
to come first-rate, Mr. Treat, but I don’t s’pose Mr. Lord 
would let me stay away from the shop long enough.” 

“ Why, you won’t have any work to do to-morrow, Toby 
— it’s Sunday.” 

“ So it is !” said the boy, with a pleased smile, as he 
thought of the day of rest which was so near. And then 
he added, quickly, “ An’ this is Saturday afternoon. What 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


105 


fun the boys at home are havin’ ! You see there hain’t 
any school Saturday afternoon, an’ all the fellers go out in 
the woods.” 

“And you wish you were there to go with them, don’t 
you ?” asked the skeleton, sympathetically. 

“ Indeed I do !” exclaimed Toby, quickly. “ It’s twice as 
good as any circus that ever was.” 

“ But you didn’t think so before you came with us, did 
you ?” 

“I didn’t know so much about circuses then as I do 
now,” replied the boy, sadly. 

Mr. Treat saw that he was touching on a sore subject, 
and one which was arousing sad thoughts in his little com- 
panion’s mind, and he hastened to change it at once. 

“ Then I can tell Lilly that you’ll come, can I ?” 

“Oh yes, I’ll be sure to be there; an’ .[ want you to 
know just how good I think you both are to me.” 

“ That’s all right, Toby,” said Mr. Treat, with a pleased 
expression on his face ; “ an’ you may bring Mr. Stubbs 
with you, if you want to.” 

“ Thank you,” said Toby ; “ I’m sure Mr. Stubbs will be 
just as glad to come as I shall. But where will we be to- 
morrow ?” 

“ Bight here. We always stay over Sunday at the place 
where we show Saturday. But I must be going, or Lilly 


106 Toby Tyler ; or, 

will worry her life out of her for fear I’m somewhere get* 
ting cold. She’s awful careful of me, that woman is. 
You’ll be on hand to-morrow at one o’clock, won’t you ?” 

“ Indeed I will,” said Toby, emphatically, “ an’ I’ll bring 
Mr. Stubbs with me too.” 

With a friendly nod of the head, the skeleton hurried 
away to reassure his wife that he was safe and well; and 
before he had hardly disappeared within the tent Toby had 
another caller, who was none other than his friend Old Ben, 
the driver. 

“Well, my boy,” shouted Ben, in his cheery, hearty tones, 
“I haven’t seen you since you left the wagon so sudden 
last night. Did you get shook up much ?” 

“Oh no,” replied Toby: “you see I hain’t very big; an’ 
then I struck in the mud ; so I got off pretty easy.” 

“ That’s a fact ; an’ you can thank your lucky stars for it, 
too, for I’ve seen grown-up men get pitched off a wagon 
in that way an’ break their necks doin’ it. But has Job 
told you where you was going to sleep to-night? You 
know we stay over here till to-morrow.” 

“I didn’t think anything about that; but I s’pose I’ll 
sleep in the wagon, won’t I ?” 

“You can sleep at the hotel, if you want to; but the 
beds will likely be dirty; an’ if you take my advice you’ll 
crawl into some of the wagons in the tent.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 107 

Ben then explained to him that, after his work was done 
that night, he would not be expected to report for duty 
until the time for starting on Sunday night, and concluded 
his remarks by saying, 

“ Now you know what your rights are, an’ don’t you let 
Job impose on you in any way. I’ll be round here after 
you get through work, an’ we’ll bunk in somewhere to- 
gether.” 

The arrival of Messrs. Lord and Jacobs put a stop to the 
conversation, and was the signal for Toby’s time of trial. 
It seemed to him, and with good reason, that the chief de- 
light these men had in life was to torment him, for neither 
ever spoke a pleasant word to him ; and when one was not 
giving him some difficult work to do, or finding fault in 
some way, the other would be sure to do so ; and Toby had 
very little comfort from the time he began work in the 
morning until he stopped at night. 

It was not until after the evening performance was over 
that Toby had a chance to speak with Mr. Stubbs, and then 
he was so tired that he simply took the old monkey from 
the cage, nestled him under his jacket, and lay down with 
him to sleep in the place which Old Ben had selected. 

When the morning came Mr. Stubbs aroused his young 
master at a much earlier hour than he would have awaken- 
ed had he been left to himself, and the two went out for 


io8 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

a short walk before breakfast. They went instinctively 
toward the woods; and when the shade of the trees was 
once reached, how the two revelled in their freedom ! Mr. 
Stubbs climbed into the trees, swung himself from one to 
the other by means of his tail, gathered half-ripe nuts, 
which he threw at his master, tried to catch the birds, 
and had a good time generally. 

Toby, stretched at full length on the mossy bank, watch- 
ed the antics of his pet, laughing boisterously at times as 
Mr. Stubbs would do some one thing more comical than 
usual, and forgot there was in this world such a thing as a 
circus, or such a man as Job Lord. It was to Toby a morn- 
ing without a flaw, and he took no heed of the time, until 
the sound of the church bells warned him of the lateness of 
the hour, reminding him at the same time of where he 
should be — where he would be, if he were at home with 
Uncle Daniel. 

In the mean time the old monkey had been trying to 
attract his young master’s attention, and, failing in his ef« 
forts, he came down from the tree, crept softly up to Toby, 
and nestled his head under the boy’s arm. 

This little act of devotion seemed to cause Toby’s grief 
to burst forth afresh, and clasping the monkey around the 
neck, hugging him close to his bosom, he sobbed, 

“ Oh, Mr. Stubbs, Mr. Stubbs, how lonesome we are ! If 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


109 


we was only at Uncle Dan’l’s we’d be the two happiest 
people in all this world. We could play on the hay, or go 
up to the pasture, or go down to the village ; an’ I’d work 
my fingers off if I could only be there just once more. It 
was wicked for me to run away, an’ now I’m gettin’ paid 
for it.” 

He hugged the monkey closely, swaying his body to and 
fro, and presenting a perfect picture of grief. The monkey, 
not knowing what to make of this changed mood, cow- 
ered whimperingly in his arms, looking up into his face, 
and licking the boy’s hands whenever he had the oppor- 
tunity. 

It was some time before Toby’s grief exhausted itself; 
and then, still clasping the monkey, he hurried out of the 
woods toward the town and the now thoroughly hated cir- 
cus tents. 

The clocks were just striking one as Toby entered the 
enclosure used by the show as a place of performance, and, 
remembering his engagement with the skeleton and his 
wife, he went directly to their tent From the odors which 
assailed him as he entered, it was very evident that a feast 
of no mean proportions was in course of preparation, and 
Toby’s keen appetite returned in full vigor. Even the 
monkey seemed affected by the odor, for he danced about 
on his master’s shoulder, and chattered so that Toby was 


I IO 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

obliged to choke him a little in order to make him present 
a respectable appearance. 

When Toby reached the interior of the tent he was as* 
tonished at the extent of the preparations that were being 
made, and gazed around him in surprise. The platform on 
which the lean man and fat woman were in the habit of 
exhibiting themselves now bore a long table, loaded with 
eatables ; and, from the fact that eight or ten chairs were 
ranged around it, Toby understood that he was not the only 
guest invited to the feast. Some little attempt had also 
been made at decoration by festooning that end of the tent 
where the platform was placed with two or three flags and 
some streamers, and the tent -poles also were fringed with 
tissue-paper of the brightest colors. 

Toby had only time enough to notice this when the 
skeleton advanced toward him, and, with the liveliest ap- 
pearance of pleasure, said, as he took him by the hands with 
a grip that made him wince, 

“ It gives me great joy, Mr. Tyler, to welcome you at one 
of our little home reunions, if one can call a tent, that is 
moved every day in the week, home.” 

Toby hardly knew whom Mr. Treat referred to when he 
said “ Mr. Tyler but by the time his hands were released 
from the bony grasp he understood that it was himself who 
was spoken to. 



TOBY IS INTRODUCED TO THE ALBINOS 





* 



Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


1 13 

The skeleton then formally introduced him to the other 
guests present, who were sitting at one end of the tent, 
and evidently anxiously awaiting the coming feast. 

“ These,” said Mr. Treat, as he waved his hand toward 
two white-haired, pink-eyed young ladies, who sat with their 
arms twined around each other’s waist, and had been eying 
the monkey with some appearance of fear, “ are the Miss 
Cushings, known to the world as the Albino Children ; they 
command a large salary, and form a very attractive feature 
of our exhibition.” 

The young ladies arose at the same time, as if they had 
been the Siamese Twins and could not act independently 
of each other, and bowed. 

Toby made the best bow he was capable of; and the 
monkey made frantic efforts to escape, as if he would en- 
joy twisting his paws in their perpendicular hair. 

“And this,” continued Mr. Treat, pointing to a sickly, 
sour -looking individual, who was sitting apart from the 
others, with his arms folded, and looking as if he was count- 
ing the very seconds before the dinner should begin, “ is the 
wonderful Signor Castro, whose sword-swallowing feats you 
have doubtless heard of.” 

Toby stepped back just one step, as if overwhelmed by 
awe at beholding the signor in the guise of a humble in- 
dividual; and the gentleman who gained his livelihood by 

8 


1 14 Toby Tyler; or , 

swallowing swords unbent his dignity so far as to unfold 
his arms and present a very dirty-looking hand for Toby to 
shake. The boy took hold of the outstretched hand, won- 
dering why the signor never used soap and water ; and Mr. 
Stubbs, apparently afraid of the sour-looking man, retreated 
to Toby’s shoulder, where he sat chattering and scolding 
about the introduction. 

Again the skeleton waved his hand, and this time he in- 
troduced “Mademoiselle Spelletti, the wonderful snake- 
charmer, whose exploits in this country, and before the 
crowned heads of Europe, had caused the whole world to 
stand aghast at her daring.” 

Mademoiselle Spelletti was a very ordinary-looking young 
lady of about twenty -five years of age, who looked very 
much as if her name might originally have been Murphy, 
and she too extended a hand for Toby to grasp — only her 
hand was clean, and she appeared to be a very much more 
pleasant acquaintance than the gentleman who swallowed 
swords. 

This ended the introductions; and Toby was just look- 
ing around for a seat, when Mrs. Treat, the fat lady, and 
the giver of the feast which was about to come, and which 
already smelled so invitingly, entered from behind a cur- 
tain of canvas, where the cooking- stove was supposed to 
be located. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


ii5 


She had every appearance of being the cook for the oc- 
casion. Her sleeves were rolled up, her hair tumbled and 
frowzy, and there were several unmistakable marks of 
grease on the front of her calico dress. 

She waited for no ceremony, but rushed up to Toby, and 
taking him in her arms, gave him such a squeeze that there 
seemed to be every possibility that she would break all the 
bones in his body ; and she kept him so long in this bear- 
like embrace that Mr. Stubbs reached his little brown paws 
over and got such a hold of her hair that all present, save 
Signor Castro, rushed forward to release her from the 
monkey’s grasp. 

“You dear little thing !” said Mrs. Treat, paying but slight 
attention to the hair -pulling she had just undergone, and 
holding Toby at arm’s-length, so that she could look into his 
face, “ you were so late that I was afraid you wasn’t com- 
ing ; and my dinner wouldn’t have tasted half so good if you 
hadn’t been here to eat some.” 

Toby hardly knew what to say for this hearty welcome, 
but he managed to tell the large and kind-hearted lady that 
he had had no idea of missing the dinner, and that he was 
very glad she wanted him to come. 

“Want you to come, you dear little thing!” she exclaim- 
ed, as she gave him another hug, but careful not to give Mr. 
Stubbs a chance of grasping her hair again. “ Of course 1 


1 1 6 Toby Tyler ; or ; 

wanted you to come, for this dinner has been got up so that 
you could meet these people here, and so that they could see 
you.” 

Toby was entirely at a loss to know what to say to 
this overwhelming compliment, and for that reason did not 
say anything, only submitting patiently to the third hug, 
which was all Mrs. Treat had time to give him, as she was 
obliged to rush behind the canvas screen again, as there 
were unmistakable sounds of something boiling over on 
the stove. 

“You’ll excuse me,” said the skeleton, with an air of 
dignity, waving his hand once more toward the assembled 
company, “ but, while introducing you to Mr. Tyler, I had 
almost forgotten to introduce him to you. This, ladies and 
gentlemen ” — and here he touched Toby on the shoulder, as 
if he were some living curiosity whose habits and mode of 
capture he was about to explain to a party of spectators — 
“ is Mr. Toby Tyler, of whom you heard on the night when 
the monkey cage was smashed, and who now carries with 
him the identical monkey which was presented to him by 
the manager of this great show as a token of esteem for his 
skill and bravery in capturing the entire lot of monkeys 
without a single blow.” 

By the time that Mr. Treat got through with this long 
speech Toby felt very much as if he were some wonderful 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 1 1 7 

creature whom the skeleton was exhibiting; but he man- 
aged to rise to his feet and duck his little red head in his 
best imitation of a bow. Then he sat down and hugged 
Mr. Stubbs to cover his confusion. 

One of the Albino Children now came forward, and, 
while stroking Mr. Stubbs’s hair, looked so intently at Toby 
that for the life of him he couldn’t say which she regarded 
as the curiosity, himself or the monkey; therefore he hast- 
ened to say, modestly, 

“I didn’t do much toward catchin’ the monkeys; Mr. 
Stubbs here did almost all of it, an’ I only led ’em in.” 

“ There, there, my boy,” said the skeleton, in a fatherly 
tone, “ I’ve heard the whole story from Old Ben, an’ I 
sha’n’t let you get out of it like that. We all know what 
you did, an’ it’s no use for you to deny any part of it” 


1 18 


Toby Tyler ; or % 


Chapter X. 



MR. STUBBS AT A PARTY. 

fOBY was about to say that he did not intend to 
represent the matter other than it really was, when 
a voice from behind the canvas screen arrested fur- 
ther conversation. 

“ Sam-u-el, come an’ help me carry these things in.” 

Something very like a smile of satisfaction passed over 
Signor Castro’s face as he heard this, which told him that 
the time for the feast was near at hand; and the snake- 
charmer, as well as the Albino Children, seemed quite as 
much pleased as did the sword-swallower. 

“You will excuse me, ladies and gentlemen,” said the 
skeleton, in an important tone; “I must help Lilly, and 
then I shall have the pleasure of helping you to some of her 
cooking, which, if I do say it, that oughtn’t, is as good as 
can be found in this entire country.” 

Then he too disappeared behind the canvas screen. 

Left alone, Toby looked at the ladies, and the ladies 
looked at him, in perfect silence, while the sword-swallower 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . * 1 1 9 

grimly regarded them all, until Mr. Treat reappeared, bear- 
ing on a platter an immense turkey, as nicely browned as any 
Thanksgiving turkey Toby ever saw. Behind him came his 
fat wife, carrying several dishes, each of which emitted a 
most fragrant odor; and as these were placed upon the 
table the spirits of the sword-swallower seemed to revive, 
and he smiled pleasantly; while even the ladies appeared 
animated by the sight and odor of the good things which 
they were to be called upon so soon to pass judgment. 

Several times did Mr. and Mrs. Treat bustle in and out 
from behind the screen, and each time they made some ad- 
dition to that which was upon the table, until Toby began to 
fear that they would never finish, and the sword-swallower 
seemed unable to restrain his impatience. 

At last the finishing touch had been put to the table, the 
last dish placed in position, and then, with a certain kind of 
grace, which no one but a man as thin as Mr. Treat could 
assume, he advanced to the edge of the platform and said, 

“ Ladies and gentlemen, nothing gives me greater pleasure 
than to invite you all, including Mr. Tyler’s friend Stubbs, 
to the bountiful repast which my Lilly has prepared for — ” 
At this point, Mr. Treat’s speech — for it certainly seemed 
as if he had commenced to make one — was broken off in a 
most summary manner. His wife had come up behind him, 
and, with as much ease as if he had been a child, lifted him 


120 Toby Tyler; or , 

from off the floor and placed him gently in the chair at the 
head of the table. 

“ Come right up and get dinner,” she said to her guests. 

If you had waited until Samuel had finished his speech 
everything on the table would have been stone-cold.” 

The guests proceeded to obey her kindly command ; and 
it is to be regretted that the sword-swallower had no better 
manners than to jump on to the platform with one bound 
and seat himself at the table with the most unseemly haste. 
The others, and more especially Toby, proceeded in a lei- 
surely and more dignified manner. 

A seat had been placed by the side of the one intended 
for Toby for the accommodation of Mr. Stubbs, who suf- 
fered a napkin to be tied under his chin, and behaved gen- 
erally in a manner that gladdened the heart of his young 
master. 

Mr. Treat cut generous slices from the turkey for each 
guest, and Mrs. Treat piled their plates high with all sorts 
of vegetables, complaining, after the manner of housewives 
generally, that the food was not cooked as she would like to 
have had it, and declaring that she had had poor luck with 
everything that morning, when she firmly believed in her 
heart that her table had never looked better. 

After the company had had the edge taken off their appe- 
tites — which effect was produced on the sword-swallower only 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


I 2 1 


after he had been helped three different times, the conver- 
sation began by the Fat Woman asking Toby how he got 
along with Mr. Lord. 

Toby could not give a very good account of his employ 
er, but he had the good sense not to cast a damper on a 
party of pleasure by reciting his own troubles ; so he said, 
evasively, 

“ I guess I shall get along pretty well, now that I have got 
so many friends.” 

Just as he had commenced to speak the skeleton had put 
into his mouth a very large piece of turkey — very much 
larger in proportion than himself — and when Toby had 
finished speaking he started to say something evidently 
not very complimentary to Mr. Lord. But what it was the 
company never knew; for just as he opened his mouth to 
speak, the food went down the wrong way, his face be- 
came a bright purple, and it was quite evident that he was 
choking. 

Toby was alarmed, and sprung from his chair to assist his 
friend, upsetting Mr. Stubbs from his seat, causing him to 
scamper up the tent-pole, with the napkin still tied around 
his neck, and* to scold in his most vehement manner. Before 
Toby could reach the skeleton, however, the Fat Woman had 
darted toward her lean husband, caught him by the arm, 
and was pounding his back, by the time Toby got there, so 


122 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

vigorously, that the boy was afraid her enormous hand would 
go through his tissue-paper-like frame. 

“I wouldn’t,” said Toby, in alarm; “you may break 
him.” 

“ Don’t you get frightened,” said Mrs. Treat, turning her 
husband completely over, and still continuing the drumming 
process. “He’s often taken this way; he’s such a glutton 
that he’d try to swallow the turkey whole if he could get it 
in his mouth, an’ he’s so thin that ’most anything sticks in 
his throat.” 

“ I should think you’d break him all up,” said Toby, apol- 
ogetically, os he resumed his seat at the table ; “ he don’t 
look as if he could stand very much of that sort of thing.” 

But apparently Mr. Treat could stand very much more 
than Toby gave him credit for, because at this juncture 
he stopped coughing, and his face fast assumed its natural 
hue. 

His attentive wife, seeing that he had ceased struggling, 
lifted him in her arms, and sat him down in his chair with 
a force that threatened to snap his very head off. 

“ There !” she said, as he wheezed a little from the effects 
of the shock, “ now see if you can behave yourself, an’ chew 
your meat as you ought to ! One of these days when you’re 
alone you’ll try that game, and that ’ll be the last of you.” 

“ If he’d try to do one of my tricks long enough he’d get 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


123 


so that there wouldn’t hardly anything choke him,” the 
sword-swallower ventured to suggest, mildly, as he wiped a 
small stream of cranberry-sauce from his chin and laid a 
well-polished turkey-bone by the side of his plate. 

“ I’d like to see him try it !” said the fat lady, with just a 
shade of anger in her voice. Then turning toward her hus- 
band, she said, emphatically, “ Samuel, don’t you ever let me 
catch you swallowing a sword !” 

“ I won’t, my love, I won’t ; and I will try to chew my 
meat more,” replied the very thin glutton, in a feeble tone. 

Toby thought that perhaps the skeleton might keep the 
first part of that promise, but he was not quite sure about 
the last. 

It required no little coaxing on the part of both Toby and 
Mrs. Treat to induce Mr. Stubbs to come down from his lof- 
ty perch ; but the task was accomplished at last, and by the 
gift of a very large doughnut he was induced to resume his 
seat at the table. 

The time had now come when the duties of a host, in his 
own peculiar way of viewing them, devolved upon Mr. Treat, 
and he said, as he pushed his chair back a short distance 
from the table, and tried to polish the front of his vest with 
his napkin, 

“ I don’t want this fact lost sight of, because it is an im- 
portant one : every one must remember that we have gatb 


124 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

ered here to meet and become better acquainted with the 
latest and best addition to this circus, Mr. Toby Tyler.” 

Poor Toby ! As the company all looked directly at him, 
and Mrs. Treat nodded her enormous head energetically, as 
if to say that she agreed exactly with her husband, the poor 
boy’s face grew very red and the squash-pie lost its flavor. 

“ Although Mr. Tyler may not be exactly one of us, owing 
to the fact that he does not belong to the profession, but is 
only one of the adjuncts to it, so to speak,” continued the 
skeleton, in a voice which was fast being raised to its high- 
est pitch, “ we feel proud, after his exploits at the time of 
the accident, to have him with us, and gladly welcome him 
now, through the medium of this little feast prepared by 
my Lilly.” 

Here the Albino Children nodded their heads in approval, 
and the sword-swallower gave a grunt of assent ; and, thus 
encouraged, the skeleton proceeded : 

“ I feel, when I say that we like and admire Mr. Tyler, all 
present will agree with me, and all would like to hear him 
say a word for himself.” 

The skeleton seemed to have expressed the views of those 
present remarkably well, judging from their expressions of 
pleasure and assent, and all waited for the honored guest to 
speak. 

Toby knew that he must say something, but he couldn’t 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


125 


think of a single thing ; he tried over and over again to call 
to his mind something which he had read as to how people 
acted and what they said when they were expected to speak 
at a dinner-table, but his thoughts refused to go back for 
him, and the silence was actually becoming painful. Final* 
ly, and with the greatest effort, he managed to say, with a 
very perceptible stammer, and while his face was growing 
very red: 

“ I know I ought to say something to pay for this big din- 
ner that you said was gotten up for me, but I don’t know 
what to say, unless to thank you for it. You see I hain’t 
big enough to say much, an’, as Uncle Dan’l says, I don’t 
amount to very much ’cept for eatin’, an’ I guess he’s right. 
You’re all real good to me, an’ when I get to be a man I’ll 
try to do as much for you.” 

Toby had risen to his feet when he began to make his 
speech, and while he was speaking Mr. Stubbs had crawled 
over into his chair. When he finished he sat down again 
without looking behind him, and of course sat plump on the 
monkey. There was a loud outcry from Mr. Stubbs, a little 
frightened noise from Toby, an instant’s scrambling, and 
then boy, monkey, and chair tumbled off the platform, land- 
ing on the ground in an indescribable mass, from which the 
monkey extricated himself more quickly than Toby could, 
and again took refuge on the top of the tent-pole. 


126 


Toby Tyler ; or. 

Of course all the guests ran to Toby’s assistance; and 
while the Fat Woman poked him all over to see that none 
of his bones were broken, the skeleton brushed the dirt 
from his clothes. 

All this time the monkey screamed, yelled, and danced 
around on the tent-pole and ropes as if his feelings had re- 
ceived a shock from which he could never recover. 

“ I didn’t mean to end it up that way, but it was Mr. 
Stubbs’s fault,” said Toby, as soon as quiet had been re- 
stored, and the guests, with the exception of the monkey, 
were seated at the table once more. 

“ Of course you didn’t,” said Mrs. Treat, in a kindly tone. 
“ But don’t you feel bad about it one bit, for you ought to 
thank your lucky stars that you didn’t break any of your 
bones.” 

“ I s’pose I did,” said Toby, soberly, as he looked back at 
the scene of his disaster, and then up at the chattering mon- 
key that had caused all the trouble. 

Shortly after this, Mr. Stubbs having again been coaxed 
down from his lofty position, Toby took his departure, prom- 
ising to call as often during the week as he could get away 
from his exacting employers. 

Just outside the tent he met Old Ben, who said, as he 
showed signs of indulging in another of his internal laugh- 
ing spells : 










Ten Weeks with a Circus . 129 

“ Hello ! has the skeleton an’ his lily of a wife been givin’ 
a blow-out to you too ?” 

“ They invited me in there to dinner,” said Toby, mod- 
estly. 

“Of course they did — of course they did,” replied Ben, 
with a chuckle ; “ they carries a cookin’-stove along with 
’em, so ’s they can give these little spreads whenever we stay 
over a day in a place. Oh, I’ve been there !” 

“ And did they ask you to make a speech ?” 

“ Of course. Did they try it on you ?” 

“ Yes,” said Toby, mournfully, “ an’ I tumbled off the 
platform when I got through.” 

“I didn’t do exactly that,” replied Ben, thoughtfully; 
“ but I s’pose you got too much steam on, seein’ ’s how it 
was likely your first speech. Now you’d better go into the 
tent an’ try to get a little sleep, ’cause we’ve got a long ride 
to-night over a rough road, an’ you won’t get more’n a cat- 
nap all night.” 

“ But where are you going ?” asked Toby, as he shifted 
Mr. Stubbs over to his other shoulder, preparatory to follow- 
ing his friend’s advice. 

“ I’m goin’ to church,” said Ben, and then Toby noticed 
for the first time that the old driver had made some attempt 
at dressing-up. “ I’ve been with the circus, man an’ boy, for 
nigh to forty years, an’ I alius go to meetin’ once on Sunday. 

9 


130 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

It’s somethin’ I promised my old mother I would do, an’ I 
hain’t broke my promise yet.” 

“ Why don’t you take me with you ?” asked Toby, wist- 
fully, as he thought of the little church on the hill at home, 
and wished — oh, so earnestly ! — that he was there then, even 
at the risk of being thumped on the head with Uncle Dan- 
iel’s book. 

“ If I’d seen you this mornin’ I would,” said Ben ; “ but 
now you must try to bottle up some sleep agin to-night, an’ 
next Sunday I’ll take you.” 

With these words Old Ben started off, and Toby proceeded 
to carry out his wishes, although he rather doubted the pos- 
sibility of “ bottling up ” any sleep that afternoon. 

He lay down on the top of the wagon, after having put 
Mr. Stubbs inside, with the others of his tribe, and in a very 
few moments the boy was sound asleep, dreaming of a din- 
ner-party at which Mr. Stubbs made a speech, and he him- 
self scampered up and down the tent-pole. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


*3i 


Chapter XI. 



A STORMY NIGHT. 

?HEN Toby awoke it was nearly dark, and the 
bustle around him told very plainly that the time 
for departure was near at hand. He rubbed 
his eyes just enough to make sure that he was 
thoroughly awake, and then jumped down from his rather 
lofty bed, and ran around to the door of the cage to assure 
himself that Mr. Stubbs was safe. This done, his prepara- 
tions for the journey were made. 

Now, Toby noticed that each one of the drivers was clad 
in rubber clothing, and, after listening for a moment, he 
learned the cause of their water-proof garments. It was 
raining very hard, and Toby thought with dismay of the 
long ride that he would have to take on the top of the 
monkeys’ cage, with no protection whatever save that af- 
forded by his ordinary clothing. 

While he was standing by the side of the wagon, wonder- 
ing how he should get along, Old Ben came in. The water 
was pouring from his clothes in little rivulets, and he af- 


132 Toby Tyler ; or , 

forded most unmistakable evidence of the damp state of 
the weather. 

“ It’s a nasty night, my boy,” said the old driver, in much 
the same cheery tone that he would have used had he been 
informing Toby that it was a beautiful moonlight evening. 

“ I guess I’ll get wet,” said Toby, ruefully, as he looked 
up at the lofty seat which he was to occupy. 

“Bless me!” said Ben, as if the thought had just come 
to him, “ it won’t do for you to ride outside on a night like 
this. You wait here, an’ I’ll see what I can do for you.” 

The old man hurried off to the other end of the tent, and 
almost before Toby thought he had time to go as far as the 
ring he returned. 

“ It’s all right,” he said, and this time in a gruff voice, 
as if he were announcing some misfortune ; “ you’re to ride 
in the women’s wagon. Come with me.” 

Toby followed without a question, though he was wholly 
at a loss to understand what the “women’s wagon” was, 
for he had never seen anything which looked like one. 

He soon learned, however, when Old Ben stopped in 
front — or, rather, at the end — of a long covered wagon that 
looked like an omnibus, except that it was considerably 
longer, and the seats inside were divided by arms, padded, 
to make them comfortable to lean against. 

“ Here’s the boy,” said Ben, as he lifted Toby up on the 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 133 

step, gave him a gentle push to intimate that he was to get 
inside, and then left him. 

As Toby stepped inside he saw that the wagon was near- 
ly full of women and children ; and fearing lest he should 
take a seat that belonged to some one else, he stood in the 
middle of the w r agon, not knowing what to do. 

“Why don’t you sit down, little boy?” asked one of the 
ladies, after Toby had remained standing nearly five min- 
utes and the wagon was about to start. 

“Well,” said Toby, with some hesitation, as he looked 
around at the two or three empty seats that remained, “ I 
didn’t want to get in anybody else’s place, an’ I didn’t 
know where to sit.” 

“Come right here,” said the lady, as she pointed to a 
seat by the side of a little girl who did not look any older 
than Toby; “the lady who usually occupies that seat will 
not be here to-night, and you can have it.” 

“ Thank you, ma’am,” said Toby, as he sat timidly down 
on the edge of the seat, hardly daring to sit back comfort- 
ably, and feeling very awkward meanwhile, but congratu- 
lating himself on being thus protected from the pouring 
rain. 

The wagon started, and as each one talked with her 
neighbor, Toby felt a most dismal sense of loneliness, and 
almost wished that he was riding on the monkey-cart with 


134 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

Ben, where he could have some one to talk with. He grad- 
ually pushed himself back into a more comfortable posi- 
tion, and had then an opportunity of seeing more plainly 
the young girl who rode by his side. 

She was quite as young as Toby, and small of her age ; 
but there was an old look about her face that made the boy 
think of her as being an old woman cut down to fit chil- 
dren’s clothes. Toby had looked at her so earnestly that 
she observed him, and asked, “ What is your name V 9 

“ Toby Tyler.” 

“ What do you do in the circus ?” 

“ Sell candy for Mr. Lord.” 

“ Oh ! I thought you was a new member of the company.” 

Toby knew by the tone of her voice that he had fallen 
considerably in her estimation by not being one of the 
performers, and it was some little time before he ventured 
to speak ; and then he asked, timidly, “ What do you do ?” 

“ I ride one of the horses with mother.” 

“ Are you the little girl that comes out with the lady an’ 
four horses?” asked Toby, in awe that he should be con- 
versing with so famous a person. 

“ Yes, I am. Don’t I do it nicely ?” 

“ Why, you’re a perfect little — little — fairy !” exclaimed 
Toby, after hesitating a moment to find some word which 
would exactly express his idea. 







Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


137 


This praise seemed to please the young lady, and in a 
short time the two became very good friends, even if Toby 
did not occupy a more exalted position than that of candy- 
seller. She had learned from him all about the accident 
to the monkey-cage, and about Mr. Stubbs, and in return 
had told him that her name was Ella Mason, though on the 
bills she was called “Mademoiselle Jeannette.” 

For a long time the two children sat talking together, 
and then Mademoiselle Jeannette curled herself up on the 
seat, with her head in her mother’s lap, and went to sleep. 

Toby had resolved to keep awake and watch her, for he 
was struck with admiration at her face ; but sleep got the 
better of him in less than five minutes after he had made 
the resolution, and he sat bolt-upright, with his little round 
head nodding and bobbing until it seemed almost certain 
that he would shake it off. 

When Toby awoke the wagon was drawn up by the 
side of the road, the sun was shining brightly, preparations 
were being made for the entree into town, and the harsh 
voice of Mr. Job Lord was shouting his name in a tone 
that boded no good for poor Toby when he should make 
his appearance. 

Toby would have hesitated before meeting his angry em- 
ployer but that he knew it would only make matters worse 
for him when he did show himself, and he mentally braced 


138 Toby Tyler; or, 

himself fur the trouble which he knew was coming. The 
little girl whose acquaintance he had made the night pre- 
vious was still sleeping ; and, wishing to say good-bye to her 
in some way without awakening her, he stooped down and 
gently kissed the skirt of her dress. Then he went out to 
meet his master. 

Mr. Lord was thoroughly enraged when Toby left the 
wagon, and saw the boy just as he stepped to the ground. 
The angry man gave a quick glance around, to make 
sure that none of Toby’s friends were in sight, and then 
caught him by the coat -collar and commenced to whip 
him severely with the small rubber cane that he usually 
carried. 

Mr. Job Lord lifted the poor boy entirely clear of the 
ground, and each blow that he struck could be heard al- 
most the entire length of the circus train. 

“You’ve been makin’ so many acquaintances here that 
you hain’t willin’ to do any work,” he said, savagely, as he 
redoubled the force of his blows. 

“ Oh, please stop ! please stop !” shrieked the poor boy 
in his agony. “ I’ll do everything you tell me to, if you 
won’t strike me again !” 

This piteous appeal seemed to have no effect upon the 
cruel man, and he continued to whip the boy, despite his 
cries and entreaties, until his arm fairly ached from the 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 139 

exertion, and Toby’s body was crossed and recrossed with 
the livid marks of the cane. 

“Now, let’s see whether you’ll ’tend to your work or 
not !” said the man as he flung Toby from him with such 
force that the boy staggered, reeled, and nearly fell into the 
little brook that flowed by the roadside. “I’ll make you 
understand that all the friends you’ve whined around in 
this show can’t save you from a lickin’ when I get ready to 
give you one! Now go an’ do your work that ought to 
have been done an hour ago !” 

Mr. Lord walked away with the proud consciousness of 
a man who has achieved a great victory, and Toby was 
limping painfully along toward the cart that was used in 
conveying Mr. Lord’s stock-in-trade, when he felt a tiny 
hand slip into his, and heard a childish voice say, 

“ Don’t cry, Toby. Some time, when I get big enough, 
I’ll make Mr. Lord sorry that he whipped you as he did; 
and I’m big enough now to tell him just what kind of a 
man I think he is.” 

Looking around, Toby saw his little acquaintance of the 
evening previous, and he tried to force back the big tears 
that were rolling down his cheeks as he said, in a voice 
choked with grief, “ You’re awful good, an’ I don’t mind 
the lickin’ when you say you’re sorry for me. I s’pose I 
deserve it for runnin’ away from Uncle Dan’l.” 


140 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

“ Did it hurt yon much ?” she asked, feelingly. 

“It did when he was doin’ it,” replied Toby, manfully, 
“ but it don’t a bit now that you’ve come.” 

“ Then I’ll go and talk to that Mr. Lord, and I’ll come 
and see you again after we get into town,” said the little 
miss, as she hurried away to tell the candy vender what 
she thought of him. 

That day, as on all others since he had been with the 
circus, Toby went to his work with a heavy heart, and time 
and time again did he count the money which had been 
given him by kind-hearted strangers, to see whether he had 
enough to warrant his attempting to run away. Three dol- 
lars and twenty-five cents was the total amount of his treas- 
ure, and, large as that sum appeared to him, he could not 
satisfy himself that he had sufficient to enable him to get 
back to the home which he had so wickedly left. When- 
ever he thought of this home, of the Uncle Daniel who had 
in charity cared for him — a motherless, fatherless boy — and 
of returning to it, with not even as much right as the Prod- 
igal Son, of whom he had heard Uncle Daniel tell, his heart 
sunk within him, and he doubted whether he would be al- 
lowed to remain even if he should be so fortunate as ever 
to reach Guilford again. 

This day passed, so far as Toby was concerned, very 
much as had the others : he could not satisfy either of his 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 14 1 

employers, try as hard as he might; but, as usual, he met 
with two or three kindly-disposed people, who added to the 
fund that he was accumulating for his second venture of 
running away by little gifts of money, each one of which 
gladdened his heart and made his trouble a trifle less hard 
to bear. 

During the entire week he was thus equally fortunate. 
Each day added something to his fund, and each night it 
seemed to Toby that he was one day nearer the freedom 
for which he so ardently longed. 

The skeleton, the fat lady, Old Ben, the Albino Children, 
little Ella, and even the sword-swallower, all gave him a 
kindly word as they passed him while he was at his work, 
or saw him as the preparations for the grand entree were 
being made. 

The time had passed slowly to Toby, and yet Sunday 
came again — as Sundays always come ; and on this day Old 
Ben hunted him up, made him wash his face and hands 
until they fairly shone from very cleanliness, and then took 
him to church. Toby was surprised to find that it was re- 
ally a pleasant thing to be able to go to church after being 
deprived of it, and was more light-hearted than he had yet 
been since he left Guilford when he returned to the tent 
at noon. 

The skeleton had invited him to another dinner-party; 


142 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

but Toby had declined the invitation, agreeing to present 
himself in time for supper instead. He hardly cared to go 
through the ordeal of another state dinner ; and besides, he 
wanted to go off to the woods with the old monkey, where 
he could enjoy the silence of the forest, which seemed like 
a friend to him, because it reminded him of home. 

Taking the monkey with him as usual, he inquired the 
nearest way to a grove, and, without waiting for dinner, 
started off for an afternoon’s quiet enjoyment. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


H3 


Chapter XII. 



TOBY’S GREAT MISFORTUNE. 

‘ HE town in which the circus remained over Sun- 
day was a small one, and a brisk walk of ten min- 
utes sufficed to take Toby into a secluded portion of 
a very thickly-grown wood, where he could lie upon 
the mossy ground and fairly revel in freedom. 

As he lay upon his back, his hands under his head, and his 
eyes directed to the branches of the trees above, where the 
birds twittered and sung, and the squirrels played in fearless 
sport, the monkey enjoyed himself, in his way, by playing 
all the monkey antics he knew of. He scrambled from tree 
to tree, swung himself from one branch to the other by the 
aid of his tail, and amused both himself and his master, un- 
til, tired by his exertions, he crept down by Toby’s side and 
lay there in quiet, restful content. 

One of Toby’s reasons for wishing to be by himself that 
afternoon was, that he wanted to think over some plan of 
escape, for he believed that he had nearly money enough 
to enable him to make a bold stroke for freedom and 


144 


Toby Tyler ; or. 

Uncle Daniel’s. Therefore, when the monkey nestled down 
by his side he was all ready to confide in him that which 
had been occupying his busy little brain for the past three 
days. 

“ Mr. Stubbs,” he said to the monkey, in a solemn tone, 
" we’re goin’ to run away in a day or two.” 

Mr. Stubbs did not seem to be moved in the least at this 
very startling piece of intelligence, but winked his bright 
eyes in unconcern ; and Toby, seeming to think that every- 
thing which he said had been understood by the monkey, 
continued : “ I’ve got a good deal of money now, an’ I guess 
there’s enough for us to start out on. We’ll get away some 
night, an’ stay in the woods till they get through hunting for 
us, an’ then we’ll go back to Guilford, an’ tell Uncle Dan’l 
if he’ll only take us back we’ll never go to sleep in meetin’ 
any more, an’ we’ll be just as good as we know how. Now 
let’s see how much money we’ve got.” 

Toby drew from a pocket, which he had been at a great 
deal of trouble to make in his shirt, a small bag of silver, 
and spread it upon the ground, where he could count it at 
his leisure. 

The glittering coin instantly attracted the monkey’s atten- 
tion, and he tried by every means to thrust his little black 
paw into the pile; but Toby would allow nothing of that 
sort, and pushed him away quite roughly. Then he grew 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 145 

excited, and danced and scolded around Toby’s treasure, 
until the boy had hard work to count it. 

He did succeed, however, and as he carefully replaced it 
in the bag he said to the monkey, “ There’s seven dollars 
an’ thirty cents in that bag, an’ every cent of it is mine. 
That ought to take care of us for a good while, Mr. Stubbs ; 
an’ by the time we get home we shall be rich men.” 

The monkey showed his pleasure at this intelligence by 
putting his hand inside Toby’s clothes to find the bag of 
treasure that he had seen secreted there, and two or three 
times, to the great delight of both himself and the boy, he 
drew forth the bag, which was immediately taken away from 
him. 

The shadows were beginning to lengthen in the woods, 
and, heeding this warning of the coming night, Toby took 
the monkey on his arm and started for home, or for the tent, 
which was the only place he could call home. 

As he walked along he tried to talk to his pet in a serious 
manner, but the monkey, remembering where he had seen 
the bright coins secreted, tried so hard to get at them that 
finally Toby lost all patience, and gave him quite a hard 
cuff on the ear, which had the effect of keeping him quiet 
for a time. 

That night Toby took supper with the skeleton and his 
wife, and he enjoyed the meal, even though it was made 

10 


146 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

from what had been left of the turkey that served as the 
noonday feast, more than he did the state dinner, where he 
was obliged to pay for what he ate by the torture of making 
a speech. 

There were no guests but Toby present ; and Mr. and Mrs. 
Treat were not only very kind, but so attentive that he was 
actually afraid he should eat so much as to stand in need of 
some of the catnip-tea which Mrs. Treat had said she gave 
to her husband when he had been equally foolish. The 
skeleton would pile his plate high with turkey-bones from 
one side, and the fat lady would heap it up, whenever she 
could find a chance, with all sorts of food from the other, 
until Toby pushed back his chair, his appetite completely 
satisfied, if it never had been so before. 

Toby had discussed the temper of his employer with his 
host and hostess, and, after some considerable conversation, 
confided in them his determination to run away. 

“ I’d hate awfully to have you go,” said Mrs. Treat, reflec- 
tively ; “ but it’s a good deal better for you to get away from 
that Job Lord if you can. It wouldn’t do to let him know 
that you had any idea of goin’, for he’d watch you as a cat 
watches a mouse, an’ never let you go so long as he saw a 
chance to keep you. I heard him tellin’ one of the drivers 
the other day that you sold more goods than any other boy he 
ever had, an’ he was going to keep you with him all summer.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


147 


“ Be careful in what you do, my boy,” said the skeleton, 
sagely, as he arranged a large cushion in an arm-chair, and 
proceeded to make ready for his after-dinner nap ; “ be sure 
that you’re all ready before you start, an’, when you do go, 
get a good ways ahead of him ; for if he should ever catch 
you the trouncin’ you’d get would be awful.” 

Toby assured his friends that he would use every endeavor 
to make his escape successful when he did start ; and Mrs. 
Treat, with an eye to the boy’s comfort, said, “ Let me know 
the night you’re goin’, an’ I’ll fix you up something to eat, 
so’s you won’t be hungry before you come to a place where 
you can buy something.” 

As these kind-hearted people talked with him, and were 
ready thus to aid him in every way that lay in their power, 
Toby thought that he had been very fortunate in thus hav- 
ing made so many kind friends in a place where he was 
having so much trouble. 

It was not until he heard the sounds of preparation for 
departure that he left the skeleton’s tent, and then, with Mr. 
Stubbs clasped tightly to his breast, he hurried over to the 
wagon where Old Ben was nearly ready to start. 

“ All right, Toby,” said the old driver, as the boy came in 
sight ; " I was afraid you was going to keep me waitin’ for 
the first time. Jump right up on the box, for there hain’t 
no time to lose, an’ I guess you’ll have to carry the monkey 


148 Toby Tyler ; or , 

in your arms, for I don’t want to stop to open the cage 
now.” 

“ I’d just as soon carry him, an’ a little rather,” said Toby, 
as he clambered up on the high seat and arranged a com- 
fortable place in his lap for his pet to sit. 

In another moment the heavy team had started, and near- 
ly the entire circus was on the move. “ Now tell me what 
you’ve been doin’ since I left you,” said Old Ben, after they 
were well clear of the town, and he could trust his horses to 
follow the team ahead. “I s’pose you’ve been to see the 
skeleton an’ his mountain of a wife ?” 

Toby gave a clear account of where he had been and what 
he had done, and when he concluded he told Old Ben of 
his determination to run away, and asked his advice on the 
matter. 

“ My advice,” said Ben, after he had waited some time, to 
give due weight to his words, “ is that you clear out from 
this show just as soon as you can. This hain’t no fit place 
for a boy of your age to be in, an’ the sooner you get back 
where you started from, an’ get to school, the better. But 
Job Lord will do all he can to keep you from goin’, if he 
thinks you have any idea of leavin’ him.” 

Toby assured Ben, as he had assured the skeleton and his 
wife, that he would be very careful in all he did, and lay his 
plans with the utmost secrecy ; and then he asked whether 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


149 

Ben thought the amount of money which he had would be 
sufficient to carry him home. 

“Waal, that depends,” said the driver, slowly. “If you 
go to spreadin’ yourself all over creation, as boys are very 
apt to do, your money won’t go very far ; but if you look at 
your money two or three times afore you spend it, you ought 
to get back and have a dollar or two left.” 

The two talked, and Old Ben offered advice, until Toby 
could hardly keep his eyes open, and almost before the 
driver concluded his sage remarks the boy had stretched 
himself on the top of the wagon, where he had learned to 
sleep without being shaken off, and was soon in dream-land. 

The monkey, nestled down snug in Toby’s bosom, did not 
appear to be as sleepy as was his master, but popped his 
head in and out from under the coat, as if watching whether 
the boy was asleep or not. 

Toby was awakened by a scratching on his face, as if the 
monkey was dancing a hornpipe on that portion of his body, 
and by a shrill, quick chattering, which caused him to as- 
sume an upright position instantly. 

He was frightened, although he knew not at what, and 
looked around quickly to discover the cause of the monkey’s 
excitement. 

Old Ben was asleep on his box, while the horses jogged 
along behind the other teams, and Toby failed to see any- 


150 Toby Tyler; or , 

thing whatever which should have caused his pet to become 
so excited. 

“ Lie down an’ behave yourself,” said Toby, as sternly as 
possible, and as he spoke he took his pet by the collar, to 
oblige him to obey his command. 

The moment that he did this he saw the monkey throw 
something out into the road, and the next instant he also 
saw that he held something tightly clutched in his other 
paw. 

It required some little exertion and active movement on 
Toby’s part to enable him to get hold of that paw, in order 
to discover what it was which Mr. Stubbs had captured ; 
but the instant he did succeed, there went up from his heart 
such a cry of sorrow as caused Old Ben to start up in alarm, 
and the monkey to cower and whimper like a whipped dog. 

“ What is it, Toby ? What’s the matter ?” asked the old 
driver, as he peered out into the darkness ahead, as if he 
feared some danger threatened them from that quarter. “ I 
don’t see anything. What is it ?” 

“ Mr. Stubbs has thrown all my money away,” cried Toby, 
holding up the almost empty bag, which a short time pre- 
vious had been so well filled with silver. 

“ Stubbs — thrown — the — money — away ?” repeated Ben, 
with a pause between each word, as if he could not under- 
stand that which he himself was saying. 



MR. STUBBS AND TOBY’S MONEY 






Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


153 


u Yes,” sobbed Toby, as he shook out the remaining con- 
tents of the bag, “ there’s only half a dollar, an’ all the rest 
is gone.” 

“ The rest gone !” again repeated Ben. “ But how come 
the monkey to have the money ?” 

“ He tried to get at it out in the woods, an’ I s’pose the 
moment I got asleep he felt for it in my pockets.- This is 
all there is left, an’ he threw away some just as I woke up.” 

Again Toby held the bag up where Ben could see it, and 
again his grief broke out anew. 

Ben could say nothing ; he realized the whole situation : 
that the monkey had got at the money-bag while Toby was 
sleeping ; that in his play he had thrown it away piece by 
piece; and he knew that that small amount of silver repre- 
sented liberty in the boy’s eyes. He felt that there was 
nothing he could say which would assuage Toby’s grief, and 
he remained silent. 

“ Don’t you s’pose we could go back an’ get it ?” asked 
the boy, after the intensity of his grief had somewhat sub- 
sided. 

“Ho, Toby, it’s gone,” replied Ben, sorrowfully. “You 
couldn’t find it if it was daylight, an’ you don’t stand a 
ghost of a chance now in the dark. Don’t take on so, my 
boy. I’ll see if we can’t make it up to you in some way.” 

Toby gave no heed to this last remark of Ben’s. He 


i54 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

hugged the monkey convulsively to his breast, as if he would 
seek consolation from the very one who had wrought the 
ruin, and, rocking himself to and fro, he said, in a voice full 
of tears and sorrow, 

“ Oh, Mr. Stubbs, why did you do it ? — why did you do 
it ? That money would have got us away from this hateful 
place, an’ we’d gone back to Uncle Dan’l’s, where we’d have 
been so happy, you an’ me. An’ now it’s all gone — all 
gone. What made you, Mr. Stubbs — what made you do such 
a bad, cruel thing ? Oh ! what made you ?” 

“Don’t, Toby — don’t take on so,” said Ben, soothingly. 
“There wasn’t so very much money there, after all, an’ 
you’ll soon get as much more.” 

“But it won’t be for a good while, an’ we could have 
been in the good old home long before I can get so much 
again.” 

“ That’s true, my boy ; but you must kinder brace up, an’ 
not give way so about it. Perhaps I can fix it so the fellers 
will make it up to you. Give Stubbs a good poundin’, an’ 
perhaps that ’ll make you feel better.” 

“ That won’t bring back my money, an’ I don’t want to 
whip him,” cried Toby, hugging his pet the closer because 
of this suggestion. “I know what it is to get a whippin’, 
an’ I wouldn’t whip a dog, much less Mr. Stubbs, who didn’t 
know any better.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


155 


“ Then you must try to take it like a man,” said Ben, who 
could think of no other plan by which the boy might soothe 
his feelings. “ It hain’t half so bad as it might be, an’ you 
must try to keep a stiff upper lip, even if it does seem hard 
at first.” 

This keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of all the trouble 
he was having was all very well to talk about, but Toby 
could not reduce it to practice, or, at least, not so soon after 
he knew of his loss, and he continued to rock the monkey 
back and forth, to whisper in his ear now and then, and to 
cry as if his heart was breaking, for nearly an hour. 

Ben tried, in his rough, honest way, to comfort him, but 
without success ; and it was not until the boy’s grief had 
spent itself that he would listen to any reasoning. 

All this time the monkey had remained perfectly quiet, 
submitting to Toby’s squeezing without making any effort 
to get away, and behaving as if he knew he had done 
wrong, and was trying to atone for it. He looked up into 
the boy’s face every now and then with such a penitent ex- 
pression, that Toby finally assured him of forgiveness, and 
begged him not to feel so badly. 


Chapter XIII. 


TOBY ATTEMPTS TO RESIGN HIS SITUATION. 


^ 0 ,. ^ diately began to reckon up what he could have 
done with the money if he had not lost it. 



last it was possible for Toby to speak of his loss 
with some degree of calmness, and then he imme- 


“ Now see here, Toby,” said Ben, earnestly : “ don’t go to 
doin’ anything of that kind. The money’s lost, an’ you can’t 
get it back by talkin’ ; so the very best thing for yon is to 
stop thinkin’ what you could do if you had it, an’ just to 
look at it as a goner.” 

“ But — ” persisted Toby. 

“I tell you there’s no buts about it,” said Ben, rather 
sharply. “Stop talkin’ about what’s gone, an’ just go to 
thinkin’ how you’ll get more. Do what you’ve a mind to 
the monkey, but don’t keep broodin’ over what you can’t 


help.” 


Toby knew that the advice was good, and he struggled 
manfully to carry it into execution, but it was very hard 
work. At all events, there was no sleep for his eyes that 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


*57 


night; and when, just about daylight, the train halted to 
wait a more seasonable hour in which to enter the town, the 
thought of what he might have done with his lost money 
was still in Toby’s mind. 

Only once did he speak crossly to the monkey, and that 
was when he put him into the cage preparatory to com- 
mencing his morning’s work. Then he said, 

“You wouldn’t had to go into this place many times more 
if you hadn’t been so wicked, for by to-morrow night we’d 
been away from this circus, an’ on the way to home an’ 
Uncle Dan’l. Now you’ve spoiled my chance an’ your own 
for a good while to come, an’ I hope before the day is over 
you’ll feel as bad about it as I do.” 

It seemed to Toby as if the monkey understood just what 
he said to him, for he sneaked over into one corner, away 
from the other monkeys, and sat there looking very peni- 
tent and very dejected. 

Then, with a heavy heart, Toby began his day’s work. 

Hard as had been Toby’s lot previous to losing his money, 
and difficult as it had been to bear the cruelty of Mr. Job 
Lord and his precious partner, Mr. Jacobs, it was doubly 
hard now while this sorrow was fresh upon him. 

Previous to this, when he had been kicked or cursed by 
one or the other of the partners, Toby thought exultantly 
that the time was not very far distant when he should be 


158 Toby Tyler; or , 

beyond the reach of his brutal task-masters, and that thought 
had given him strength to bear all that had been put upon 
him. 

Now the time of his deliverance from this bondage 
seemed very far off, and each cruel word or blow caused 
him the greater sorrow, because of the thought that but for 
the monkey’s wickedness he would have been nearly free 
from that which made his life so very miserable. 

If he had looked sad and mournful before, he looked 
doubly so now, as he went his dreary round of the tent, cry- 
ing, “Here’s your cold lemonade,” or “Fresh-baked pea- 
nuts, ten cents a quart and each day there were some in 
the audience who pitied the boy because of the misery 
which showed so plainly in his face, and they gave him a 
few cents more than his price for what he was selling, or 
gave him money without buying anything at all, thereby 
aiding him to lay up something again toward making his 
escape. 

Those few belonging to the circus who knew of Toby’s 
intention to escape tried their best to console him for the 
loss of his money, and that kind-hearted couple, the skeleton 
and his fat wife s tried to force him to take a portion of their 
scanty earnings in the place of that which the monkey had 
thrown away. But this Toby positively refused to do ; and 
to the arguments which they advanced as reasons why they 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


159 


should help him along he only replied that until he could 
get the money by his own exertions he would remain with 
Messrs. Lord and Jacobs, and get along as best he could. 

Every hour in the day the thought of what might have 
been if he had not lost his money so haunted his mind that 
finally he resolved to make one bold stroke, and tell Mr. 
Job Lord that he did not want to travel with the circus 
any longer. 

As yet he had not received the two dollars which had 
been promised him for his two weeks’ work, and another 
one was nearly due. If he could get this money it might, 
with what he had saved again, suffice to pay his railroad 
fare to Guilford ; and if it would not, he resolved to accept 
from the skeleton sufficient to make up the amount needed. 

He naturally shrunk from the task ; but the hope that he 
might possibly succeed gave him the necessary amount of 
courage, and when he had gotten his work done, on the 
third morning after he had lost his money, and Mr. Lord 
appeared to be in an unusually good temper, he resolved 
to try the plan. 

It was just before the dinner hour. Tade had been unex- 
ceptionally good, and Mr. Lord had even spoken in a pleas- 
ant tone to Toby when he told him to fill up the lemonade 
pail with water, so that the stock might not be disposed of 
too quickly and with too little profit. 


i6o 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

Toby poured in quite as much water as he thought the 
already weak mixture could receive and retain any flavor 
of lemon ; and then, as his employer motioned him to add 
more, he mixed another quart in, secretly wondering what it 
would taste like. 

‘‘When you’re mixin’ lemonade for circus trade,” said 
Mr. Lord, in such a benign, fatherly tone that one would 
have found it difficult to believe that he ever spoke harshly, 
“ don’t be afraid of water, for there’s where the profit comes 
in. Always have a piece of lemon-peel floatin’ on the top 
of every glass, an’ it tastes just as good to people as if it 
cost twice as much.” 

Toby could not agree exactly with that opinion, neither 
did he think it wise to disagree, more especially since he 
was going to ask the very great favor of being discharged ; 
therefore he nodded his head gravely, and began to stir up 
what it pleased Mr. Lord to call lemonade, so that the last 
addition might be more thoroughly mixed with the others. 

Two or three times he attempted to ask the favor which 
seemed such a great one, and each time the words stuck in 
his throat, until it seemed to him that he should never suc- 
ceed in getting them out. 

Finally, in his despair, he stammered out, 

“Don’t you think you could find another boy in this 
town, MV. Lord ?” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 161 

Mr. Lord moved round sideways, in order to bring his 
crooked eye to bear squarely on Toby, and then there was 
a long interval of silence, during which time the boy’s color 
rapidly came and went, and his heart beat very fast with 
suspense and fear. 

“Well, what if I could?” he said at length. “Do you 
think that trade is so good I could afford to keep two boys, 
when there isn’t half work enough for one ?” 

Toby stirred the lemonade with renewed activity, as if by 
this process he was making both it and his courage stronger, 
and said, in a low voice, which Mr. Lord could scarcely 
hear, 

“ I didn’t think that ; but you see I ought to go home, for 
Uncle Dan’l will worry about me ; an’, besides, I don’t like a 
circus very well.” 

Again there was silence on Mr. Lord’s part, and again the 
crooked eye glowered down on Toby. 

“ So,” he said — and Toby could see that his anger was 
rising very fast — “ you don’t like a circus very well, an’ you 
begin to think that your uncle Daniel will worry about you, 
eh? Well, I want you to understand that it don’t make 
any difference to me whether you like a circus or not, and I 
don’t care how much your uncle Daniel worries. You mean 
that you want to get away from me, after I’ve been to all 

the trouble and expense of teaching you the business ?” 

11 


1 62 Toby Tyler ; or, 

Toby bent his head over the pail, and stirred away as if 
for dear life. 

“ If yon think you’re going to get away from here until 
you’ve paid me for all you’ve eat, an’ all the time I’ve spent 
on you, you’re mistaken, that’s all. You’ve had an easy 
time with me — too easy, in fact — and that’s what ails you. 
Now, you just let me hear two words more out of your head 
about going away — only two more — an’ I’ll show you what 
a whipping is. I’ve only been playing with you before 
when you thought you was getting a whipping; but you’ll 
find out what it means if I so much as see a thought in your 
eyes about goin’ away. An’ don’t you dare to try to give 
me the slip in the night an’ run away ; for if you do I’ll 
follow you, an’ have you arrested. Now, you mind your 
eye in the future.” 

It is impossible to say how much longer Mr. Lord might 
have continued this tirade, had not a member of the com- 
pany — one of the principal riders — called him one side to 
speak with him. 

Poor Toby was so much confused by the angry words 
which had followed his very natural and certainly very rea- 
sonable suggestion that he paid no attention to anything 
around him, until he heard his own name mentioned ; and 
then, fearing lest some new misfortune was about to befall 
him, he listened intently. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 163 

“I’m afraid you couldn’t do much of anything with him,” 
he heard Mr. Lord say. “ He’s had enough of this kind of 
life already, so he says, an’ I expect the next thing he does 
will be to try to run away.” 

“ I’ll risk his getting away from you, Job,” he heard the 
other say ; “ but of course I’ve got to take my chances. I’ll 
take him in hand from eleven to twelve each day — just 
your slack time of trade — and I’ll not only give you half 
of what he can earn in the next two years, but I’ll pay 
you for his time, if he gives us the slip before the season 
is out.” 

Toby knew that they were speaking of him, but what it 
all meant he could not imagine. 

“What are you going to do with him first?” Job asked. 

“Just put him right into the ring, and teach him what 
riding is. I tell you, Job, the boy’s smart enough, and be- 
fore the season’s over I’ll have him so that he can do some 
of the bare-back acts, and perhaps we’ll get some money out 
of him before we go into winter-quarters.” 

Toby understood the meaning of their conversation only 
too well, and he knew that his lot, which before seemed 
harder than he could bear, was about to be intensified 
through this Mr. Castle, of whom he had frequently heard, 
and who was said to be a rival of Mr. Lord’s, so far as bru- 
tality went. The two men now walked toward the large 


164 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

tent, and Toby was left alone with his thoughts and the 
two or three little boy customers, who looked at him 
wonderingly, and envied him because he belonged to the 
circus. 

During the ride that night he told Old Ben what he 
had heard, confidently expecting that that friend at least 
would console him ; but Ben was not the champion which 
he had expected. The old man, who had been with a 
circus, “man and boy, nigh to forty years,” did not seem 
to think it any calamity that he was to be taught to ride. 

“ That Mr. Castle is a little rough on boys,” Old Ben said, 
thoughtfully ; “ but it ’ll be a good thing for you, Toby. Just 
so long as you stay with Job Lord you won’t be nothin’ 
more’n a candy-boy ; but after you know how to ride it ’ll 
be another thing, an’ you can earn a good deal of money, 
an’ be your own boss.” 

“ But I don’t want to stay with the circus,” whined Toby; 
“ I don’t want to learn to ride, an’ I do want to get back to 
Uncle Dan’l.” 

“ That may all be true, an’ I don’t dispute it,” said Ben ; 
“ but you see you didn’t stay with your uncle Daniel when 
you had the chance, an’ you did come with the circus. 
You’ve told Job yon wanted to leave, an’ he’ll be watchin’ 
you all the time to see that you don’t give him the slip. 
Now, what’s the consequence ? Why, you can’t get away 






Ten Weeks with a Circus . 1 07 

for a while, anyhow, an’ you’d better try to amount to some' 
thing while yon are here. Perhaps after you’ve got so you 
can ride you may want to stay ; an’ I’ll see to it that you 
get all of your wages, except enough to pay Castle for 
learn in’ of you.” 

“ 1 sha’n’t want to stay,” said Toby. “ I wouldn’t stay if 
1 could ride all the horses at once, an’ was gettin’ a hun- 
dred dollars a day.” 

u But you can’t ride one horse, an’ you hain’t gettin’ but a 
dollar a week, an’ still I don’t see any chance of your gettin’ 
away yet awhile,” said Ben, in a matter-of-fact tone, as he 
devoted his attention again to his horses, leaving Toby to 
his own sad reflections, and the positive conviction that boys 
who run away from home do not have a good time, except 
in stories. 

The next forenoon, while Toby was deep in the excite- 
ment of selling to a boy no larger than himself, and with 
just as red hair, three cents’ worth of pea-nuts and two 
sticks of candy, and while the boy was trying to induce him 
to “ throw in ” a piece of gum, because of the quantity pur- 
chased, Job Lord called him aside, and Toby knew that his 
troubles had begun. 

“ I want you to go in an’ see Mr. Castle ; lie’s goin’ to 
show you how to ride,” said Mr. Lord, in as kindly a tone 
as if he were conferring some favor on the boy. 


1 68 Toby Tyler ; or , 

If Toby had dared to, he would have rebelled then and 
there and refused to go; but, as he hadn’t the courage for 
such proceeding, he walked meekly into the tent and to- 
ward the ring. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


169 


Chapter XIV. 

MR. CASTLE TEACHES TOBY TO RIDE. 

» ^HEN Toby got within sight of the ring he was 
astonished at what he saw. A horse, with a broad 
wooden saddle, was being led slowly around the 
ring ; Mr. Castle was standing on one side, with a 
long whip in his hand ; and on the tent-pole, which stood 
in the centre of the ring, was a long arm, from which 
dangled a leathern belt attached to a long rope that was 
carried through the end of the arm and run down to the 
base of the pole. 

Toby knew well enough why the horse, the whip, and the 
man were there, but the wooden projection from the tent- 
pole, which looked so much like a gallows, he could not 
understand at all. 

“ Come, now,” said Mr. Castle, cracking his whip omi- 
nously as Toby came in sight, “ why weren’t you here 
before ?” 

“ Mr. Lord just sent me in,” said Toby, not expecting that 
his excuse would be received, for they never had been since 


170 Toby Tyler ; or , 

he had arrived at the height of his ambition by joining the 
circus. 

“ Then I’ll make Mr. Job understand that I am to have 
my full hour of your time ; and if I don’t get it there’ll be 
trouble between us.” 

It would have pleased Toby very well to have had Mr. 
Castle go out with his long whip just then and make trou- 
ble for Mr. Lord ; but Mr. Castle had not the time to spare, 
because of the trouble which he was about to make for 
Toby, and that he commenced on at once. 

“ Well, get in here, and don’t waste any more time,” he 
said, sharply. 

Toby looked around curiously for a moment, and, not ui> 
derstanding exactly what he was expected to get in and do, 
asked, “ What shall I do ?” 

“ Pull off your boots, coat, and vest.” 

Since there was no other course than to learn to ride, 
Toby wisely concluded that the best thing he could do 
would be to obey his new master without question ; so he 
began to take off his clothes with as much alacrity as if 
learning to ride was the one thing upon which he had long 
set his heart. 

Mr. Castle was evidently accustomed to prompt obedience, 
for he not only took it as a matter of course but endeavored 
to hurry Toby in the work of undressing. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


171 


With his desire to please, and urged by Mr. Castle’s words 
and the ominous shaking of his whip, Toby’s preparations 
were soon made, and he stood before his instructor clad 
only in his shirt, trousers, and stockings. 

The horse was led around to where he stood, and when 
Mr. Castle held out his hand to help him to mount Toby 
jumped up quickly without aid, thereby making a good im- 
pression at the start as a willing lad. 

“ Now,” said the instructor, as he pulled down the leath- 
ern belt which hung from the rope, and fastened it around 
Toby’s waist, “stand up in the saddle, and try to keep 
there. You can’t fall, because the rope will hold you up, 
even if the horse goes out from under you ; but it isn’t hard 
work to keep on, if you mind what you are about ; and if 
you don’t this whip will help yon. Now stand up.” 

Toby did as he was bid ; and as the horse was led at a 
walk, and as he had the long bridle to aid him in keeping 
his footing, he had no difficulty in standing during the 
time that the horse went once around the ring; but that 
was all. 

Mr. Castle seemed to think that this was preparation 
enough for the boy to be able to understand how to ride, 
and he started the horse into a canter. As might have been 
expected, Toby lost his balance, the horse went on ahead, 
and he was left dangling at the end of the rope, very much 


1 72 Toby Tyler ; or , 

like a crab that has just been caught by the means of a pole 
and line. 

Toby kicked, waved his hands, and floundered about gen- 
erally, but all to no purpose, until the horse came round 
again, and then he made frantic efforts to regain his foot- 
ing, which efforts were aided — or perhaps it would be more 
proper to say retarded — by the long lash of Mr. Castle’s 
whip, that played around his legs with merciless severity. 

“ Stand up ! stand up !” cried his instructor, as Toby 
reeled first to one side and then to the other, now standing 
erect in the saddle, and now dangling at the end of the 
rope, with the horse almost out from under him. 

This command seemed needless, as it was exactly what 
Toby was trying to do; but as it was given he struggled 
all the harder, until it seemed to him that the more he tried 
the less did he succeed. 

And this first lesson progressed in about the same way 
until the hour was over, save that now and then Mr. Castle 
would give him some good advice, but oftener he would 
twist the long lash of the whip around the boy’s legs with 
such force that Toby believed the skin had been taken en- 
tirely off. 

It may have been a relief to Mr. Castle when this first 
lesson was concluded, and it certainly was to Toby, for he 
had had all the teaching in horsemanship that he wanted, 



THE FIRST LESSON 







Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


1 75 


and he thought, with deepest sorrow, that this would be of 
daily occurrence during all the time he remained with the 
circus. 

As he went out of the tent he stopped to speak with his 
friend the old monkey, and his troubles seemed to have in- 
creased when he stood in front of the cage calling “Mr. 
Stubbs ! Mr. Stubbs !” and the old fellow would not even 
come down from off the lofty perch where he was engaged 
in monkey gymnastics with several younger companions. 
It seemed to him, as he afterward told Ben, “ as if Mr. 
Stubbs had gone back on him because he knew that he 
was in trouble.” 

When he went toward the booth Mr. Lord looked at him 
around the corner of the canvas — for it seemed to Toby 
that his employer could look around a square corner with 
much greater ease than he could straight ahead — with a 
disagreeable leer in his eye, as though he enjoyed the mis- 
ery which he knew his little clerk had just undergone. 

“ Can you ride yet ?” he asked, mockingly, as Toby step- 
ped behind the counter to attend to his regular line of 
business. 

Toby made no reply, for he knew that the question was 
only asked sarcastically, and not through any desire for in- 
formation. In a few moments Mr. Lord left him to attend 
to the booth alone, and went into the tent, where Toby 


176 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

rightly conjectured he had gone to question Mr. Castle upon 
the result of the lesson just given. 

That night Old Ben asked him how he had got on while 
under the teaching of Mr. Castle ; and Toby, knowing that 
the question was asked because of the real interest which 
Ben had in his welfare, replied, 

“ If I was tryin’ to learn how to swing round the ring, 
strapped to a rope, I should say that I got along first-rate ; 
but I don’t know much about the horse, for I was only on 
his back a little while at a time.” 

“ You’ll get over that soon,” said Old Ben, patronizingly, 
as he patted him on the back. “You remember my words, 
now: I say that you’ve got it in you, an’ if you’ve a mind to 
take hold an’ try to learn you’ll come out on the top of the 
heap yet, an’ be one of the smartest riders they’ve got in 
this show.” 

“ I don’t want to be a rider,” said Toby, sadly ; “ I only 
want to get back home once more, an’ then you’ll see how 
much it ’ll take to get me away again.” 

“Well,” said Ben, quietly, “be that as it may, while 
you’re here the best thing you can do is to take hold an’ get 
ahead just as fast as you can ; it ’ll make it a mighty sight 
easier for you while you’re with the show, an’ it won’t spoil 
any of your chances for runnin’ away whenever the time 


comes. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


1 77 


Toby fully appreciated the truth of this remark, and he 
assured Ben that he should do all in his power to profit by 
the instruction given, and to please this new master who 
had been placed over him. 

And with this promise he lay back on the seat and went 
to sleep, not to awaken until the preparations were being 
made for the entrde into the next town, and Mr. Lord’s 
harsh voice had cried out his name, with no gentle tone, sev- 
eral times. 

Toby’s first lesson with Mr. Castle was the most pleasant 
one he had ; for after the boy had once been into the ring 
his master seemed to expect that he could do everything 
which he was told to do, and when he failed in any lit- 
tle particular the long lash of the whip would go curling 
around his legs or arms, until the little fellow’s body and 
limbs were nearly covered with the blue and-black stripes. 

For three lessons only was the wooden upright used to 
keep him from falling; after that he was forced to ride 
standing erect on the broad wooden saddle, or pad, as it is 
properly called ; and whenever he lost his balance and fell 
there was no question asked as to whether or not he had 
hurt himself, but he was mercilessly cut with the whip. 

Messrs. Lord and Jacobs gained very much by compari- 
son with Mr. Castle in Toby’s mind. He had thought that 
his lot could not be harder than it was with them; but 
12 


1 78 Toby Tyler; or , 

when he had experienced the pains of two or three of Mr. 
Castle’s lessons in horsemanship he thought that he would 
stay with the candy venders all the season cheerfully rather 
than take six more lessons of Mr. Castle. 

Night after night he fell asleep from the sheer exhaus- 
tion of crying, as he had been pouring out his woes in the 
old monkey’s ears and laying his plans to run away. Now, 
more than ever, was he anxious to get away, and yet each 
day was taking him farther from home, and consequently 
necessitating a larger amount of money with which to start. 
As Old Ben did not give him as much sympathy as Toby 
thought he ought to give — for the old man, while he would 
not allow Mr. Job Lord to strike the boy if he was near, 
thought it a necessary portion of the education for Mr. 
Castle to lash him all he had a mind to — he poured out all 
his troubles in the old monkey’s ears, and kept him with 
him from the time he ceased work at night until he was 
obliged to commence again in the morning. 

The skeleton and his wife thought Toby’s lot a hard one. 
and tried by every means in their power to cheer the poor 
boy. Neither one of them could say to Mr. Castle wha* 
they had said to Mr. Lord, for the rider was a far different 
sort of a person, and one whom they would not be allowed 
to interfere with in any way. Therefore poor Toby was 
obliged to bear his troubles and his whippings as best he 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


179 

might, with only the thought to cheer him of the time when 
he could leave them all by running away. 

But, despite all his troubles, Toby learned to ride faster 
than his teacher had expected he would, and in three weeks 
he found little or no difficulty in standing erect while his 
horse went around the ring at his fastest gait. After that 
had been accomplished his progress was more rapid, and he 
gave promise of becoming a very good rider — a fact which 
pleased both Mr. Castle and Mr. Lord very much, as they 
fancied that in another year Toby would be the source of 
a very good income to them. 

The proprietor of the circus took considerable interest 
in Toby’s instruction, and promised Mr. Castle that Made- 
moiselle Jeannette and Toby should do an act together in 
the performance just as soon as the latter was sufficiently 
advanced. The boy’s costume had been changed after he 
could ride without falling off, and now while he was in the 
ring he wore the same as that used by the regular per- 
formers. 

The little girl had, after it was announced that she and 
Toby were to perform together, been an attentive observer 
during the hour that Toby was under Mr. Castle’s direction, 
and she gave him many suggestions that were far more val- 
uable, and quicker to be acted upon, than those given by 
the teacher himself. 


i8o 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

“To-morrow you two will go through the exercise to- 
gether,” said Mr. Castle to Toby and Ella, at the close of 
one of Toby’s lessons, after he had become so skilful that 
he could stand with ease on the pad, and even advanced so 
far that he could jump through a hoop without falling 
more than twice out of three times. 

The little girl appeared highly delighted by this informa- 
tion, and expressed her joy. 

“ It will be real nice,” she said to Toby, after Mr. Castle 
had left them alone. “ I can help you lots, and it won’t be 
very long before we can do an act all by ourselves in the 
performance, and then won’t the people clap their hands 
when we come in !” 

“ It’ll be better for you to-morrow than it will for me,” 
said Toby, rubbing his legs sorrowfully, still feeling the 
sting of the whip. “You see Mr. Castle won’t dare to 
whip you, an’ he’ll make it all count on me, ’cause he 
knows Mr. Lord likes to have him whip me.” 

“ But I sha’n’t make any mistake,” said Ella, confidently, 
“ and so you won’t have to be whipped on my account ; and 
while I am on the horse you can’t be whipped, for he 
couldn’t do it without whipping me, so you see you won’t 
get only half as much.” 

Toby brightened up a little under the influence of this 
argument; but his countenance fell again as he thought 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 181 

that his chances for getting away from the circus were 
growing less each day. 

“You see I want to get back to Uncle Dan’l an 5 Guil- 
ford,” he said, confidentially ; “ I don’t want to stay here a 
single minute.” 

Ella opened her eyes in wide astonishment as she cried, 
“Don’t want to stay here? Why don’t you go home, 
then f” 

“’Cause Job Lord won’t let me,” said Toby, wondering 
if it was possible that his little companion did not know 
exactly what sort of a man his master was. 

Then he told her — after making her give him all kinds 
of promises, including the ceremony of crossing her throat, 
that she would never tell a single soul — that he had had 
many thoughts, and had formed all kinds of plans for run- 
ning away. He told her about losing his money, about his 
friendship for the skeleton and the fat lady, and at last 
he confided in her that he was intending to take the old 
monkey with him when he should make the attempt. 

She listened with the closest attention, and when he told 
her that his little hoard had now reached the sum of seven 
dollars and ten cents — almost as much as he had before — 
she said, eagerly, “ I’ve got three little gold dollars in my 
trunk, an’ you shall have them all ; they’re my very own, 
for mamma gave them to me to do just what I wanted to 


182 


Toby Tyler ; or ; 

with them. But I don’t see how you can take Mr. Stubbs 
with you, for that would be stealing.” 

“No, it wouldn’t, neither,” said Toby, stoutly. “Wasn’t 
he give to me to do just as I wanted to with? an’ didn’t 
the boss say he was all mine ?” 

“ Oh, I’d forgotten that,” said Ella, thoughtfully. “ I sup- 
pose you can take him; but he’ll be awfully in the way, 
won’t he ?” 

“ No,” said Toby, anxious to say a good word for his pet ; 
“he always does just as I want him to, an’ when I tell him 
what I’m tryin’ to do he’ll be as good as anything. But I 
can’t take your dollars.” 

“ Why not ?” 

“’Cause that wouldn’t be right for a boy to let a girl 
littler than himself help him; I’ll wait till I get money 
enough of my own, an’ then I’ll go.” 

“But I want you to take my money too ; I want you to 
have it.” 

“ No, I can’t take it,” said Toby, shaking his head reso- 
lutely as he put the golden temptation from him; and then, 
as a happy thought occurred to him, he said, quickly, “ I 
tell you what to do with your dollars : you keep them till 
you grow up to be a woman, an’ when I’m a man I’ll come, 
an’ then we’ll buy a circus of our own. I think, perhaps, 
I’d like to be with a circus if I owned one myself. We’ll 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 183 

have lots of money then, an’ we can do just what we want 
to.” 

This idea seemed to please the little girl, and the two 
began to lay all sorts of plans for that time when they 
should be man and woman, have lots of money, and be 
able to do just as they wanted to. 

They had been sitting on the edge of the newly-made 
ring while they were talking, and before they had half-fin- 
ished making plans for the future one of the attendants 
came in to put things to order, and they were obliged to 
leave their seats, she going to the hotel to get ready for the 
afternoon’s performance, and Toby to try to do such work 
as Mr. Job Lord had laid out for him. 

Just ten weeks from the time Toby had first joined the 
circus Mr. Castle informed him and Ella that they were to 
appear in public on the following day. They had been 
practising daily, and Toby had become so skilful that both 
Mr. Castle and Mr. Lord saw that the time had come when 
he could be made to earn some money for them. 


184 


Toby Tyler ; or. 


Chapter XV. 



TOBY’S FRIENDS PRESENT HIM WITH A COSTUME. 

tTKING this time Toby’s funds had accumulated 
rather slower than on the first few days he was in 
the business, but he had saved eleven dollars, and 
Mr. Lord had paid him five dollars of his salary, 
so that he had the to him enormous sum of sixteen dollars ; 
and he had about made up his mind to make one effort for 
liberty, when the news came that he was to ride in public. 

He had, in fact, been ready to run away any time within 
the past week ; but, as if they had divined his intentions, 
both Mr. Castle and Mr. Lord had kept a very strict watch 
over him, one or the other keeping him in sight from the 
time he got through with his labors at night until they saw 
him on the cart with Old Ben. . 

“ I was just gettin’ ready to run away,” said Toby to Ella, 
on the day Mr. Castle gave his decision as to their taking 
part in the performance, and while they were walking out 
of the tent, “ an’ I shouldn’t wonder now if I got away to- 
night.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 185 

jC Oh, Toby !” exclaimed the girl, as she looked reproach- 
fully at him, “ after all the work we’ve had to get ready, 
you won’t go off and leave me before we’ve had a chance to 
see what the folks will say when they see us together ?” 

It was impossible for Toby to feel any delight at the idea 
of riding in public, and he would have been willing to have 
taken one of Mr. Lord’s most severe whippings if he could 
have escaped from it; but he and Ella had become such 
firm friends, and he had conceived such a boyish admira- 
tion for her, that he felt as if he were willing to bear almost 
anything for the sake of giving her pleasure. Therefore he 
said, after a few moments’ reflection, “ Well, I won’t go to- 
night, anyway, even if I have the best chance that ever was. 
I’ll stay one day more, anyhow, an’ perhaps I’ll have to stay 
a good many.” 

“ That’s a nice boy,” said Ella, positively, as Toby thus 
gave his decision, “ and I’ll kiss you for it.” 

Before Toby fully realized what she was about, almost 
before he had understood what she said, she had put her 
arms around his neck and given him a good sound kiss 
right on his freckled face. 

Toby was surprised, astonished, and just a little bit 
ashamed. He had never been kissed by a girl before — very 
seldom by any one, save the fat lady — and he hardly knew 
what to do or say. He blushed until his face was almost as 


1 86 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

red as his hair, and this color had the effect of making his 
freckles stand put with startling distinctness. Then he 
looked carefully around to see if any one had seen them. 

“ I never had a girl kiss me before,” said Toby, hesitating- 
ly, “ an’ you see it made me feel kinder queer to have you 
do it out here, where everybody could see.” 

“ Well, I kissed you because I like you very much, and be- 
cause you are going to stay and ride with me to-morrow,” 
6he said, positively; and then she added, slyly, “ I may kiss 
you again, if you don’t get a chance to run away very soon.” 

“I wish it wasn’t for Uncle Dan’l an’ the rest of the 
folks at home, an’ there wasn’t any such men as Mr. Lord 
an’ Mr. Castle, an’ then I don’t know but I might want to 
stay with the circus, ’cause I like you awful much.” 

And as he spoke Toby’s heart grew very tender toward 
the only girl-friend he had ever known. 

By this time they had reached the door of the tent, and 
as they stepped outside one of the drivers told them that 
Mr. Treat and his wife were very anxious to see both of 
them in their tent. 

“ I don’t believe I can go,” said Toby, doubtfully, as he 
glanced toward the booth, where Mr. Lord was busy in 
attending to customers, and evidently waiting for Toby to 
relieve him, so that he could go to his dinner ; “ I don’t 
believe Mr. Lord will let me.” 



ELLA AND TOBY, 







Ten Weeks with a Circus . 189 

“Go and ask him,” said Ella, eagerly. “We won’t be 
gone bat a minute.” 

Toby approached his employer with fear and trembling. 
He had never before asked leave to be away from his work 5 
even for a moment, and he had no doubt but that his re 
quest would be refused with blows. 

“ Mr. Treat wants me to come in his tent for a minute ; 
can I go ?” he asked, in a timid voice, and in such a low 
tone as to render it almost inaudible. 

Mr. Lord looked at him for an instant, and Toby was sure 
that he was making up his mind whether to kick him, or 
catch him by the collar and use the rubber cane on him. 
But he had no such intention, evidently, for he said, in a 
voice unusually mild, “ Yes, an’ you needn’t come to work 
again until it’s time to go into the tent.” 

Toby was almost alarmed at this unusual kindness, and it 
puzzled him so much that he would have forgotten he had 
permission to go away if Ella had not pulled him gently by 
the coat. 

If he had heard a conversation between Mr. Lord and 
Mr. Castle that very morning he would have understood 
why it was that Mr. Lord had so suddenly become kind. 
Mr. Castle had told Job that the boy had really shown him- 
self to be a good rider, and that in order to make him more 
contented with his lot, and to keep him from running away, 


190 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

he must be used more kindly, and perhaps be taken from 
the candy business altogether, which latter advice Mr. Lord 
did not look upon with favor, because of the large sales 
which the boy made. 

When they reached the skeleton’s tent they found to their 
surprise that no exhibition was being given at that hour, 
and Ella said, with some concern, “ How queer it is that the 
doors are not open ! I do hope that they are not sick.” 

Toby felt a strange sinking at his heart as the possibility 
suggested itself that one or both of his kind friends might 
be ill ; for they had both been so kind and attentive to him 
that he had learned to love them very dearly. 

But the fears of both the children were dispelled when 
they tried to get in at the door, and were met by the smil- 
ing skeleton himself, who said, as he threw the canvas aside 
as far as if he were admitting his own enormous Lilly, 

“ Come in, my friends, come in. I have had the exhibi- 
tion closed for one hour, in order that I might show my ap- 
preciation of my friend Mr. Tyler.” 

Toby looked around in some alarm, fearing that Mr. 
Treat’s friendship was about to be displayed in one of his 
state dinners, which he had learned to fear rather than en- 
joy. But, as he saw no preparations for dinner, he breathed 
more freely, and wondered what all this ceremony could 
pdssibly mean. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 191 

Neither he nor Ella was long left in doubt, for as soon 
as they had entered, Mrs. Treat waddled from behind the 
screen which served them as a dressing-room, with a bundle 
in her arms, which she handed to her husband. 

He took it, and, quickly mounting the platform, leaving 
Ella and Toby below, he commenced to speak, with very 
many flourishes of his thin arms* 

“ My friends,” he began, as he looked down upon his au- 
dience of three, who were listening in the following atti- 
tudes: Ella and Toby were standing upon the ground at the 
foot of the platform, looking up with wide-open, staring 
eyes ; and his fleshy wife was seated on a bench which had 
evidently been placed in such a position below the speaker’s 
stand that she could hear and see all that was going on 
without the fatigue of standing up, which, for one of her 
size, was really very hard work — “ My friends,” repeated the 
skeleton, as he held his bundle in front of him with one 
hand and gesticulated with the other, “ we all of us know 
that to-morrow our esteemed and worthy friend Mr. Toby 
Tyler makes his first appearance in any ring, and we all of 
us believe that he will soon become a bright and shining 
light in the profession which he is so soon to enter.” 

The speaker was here interrupted by loud applause from 
his wife, and he profited by the opportunity to wipe a stray 
drop of perspiration from his fleshless face. Then, as the 


192 Toby Tyler ; or, 

fat lady ceased the exertion of clapping her hands, he con* 
tinued : % 

“ Knowing that our friend Mr. Tyler was being in- 
structed, preparatory to dazzling the public with his talents, 
my wife and I began to prepare for him some slight testi- 
monial of our esteem; and, being informed by Mr. Castle 
some days ago of the day on which he was to make his first 
appearance before the public, we were enabled to complete 
our little gift in time for the great and important event.” 

Here the skeleton paused to take a breath, and Toby be- 
gan to grow most uncomfortably red in the face. Such 
praise made him feel very awkward. 

eC I hold in this bundle,” continued Mr. Treat as he waved 
the package on high, “ a costume for our bold and worthy 
equestrian, and a sash to match for his beautiful and accom- 
plished companion. In presenting these little tokens my 
wife (who has embroidered every inch of the velvet herself) 
and I feel proud to know that, when the great and auspi- 
cious occasion occurs to-morrow, the worthy Mr. Tyler will 
step into the ring in a costume which we have prepared ex- 
pressly for him ; and thus, when he does himself honor by 
his performance and earns the applause of the multitude, 
he will be doing honor and earning applause for the work 
of our hands — my wife Lilly and myself. Take them, my 
boy ; and when you array yourself in them to-morrow you 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


193 


will remember that the only Living Skeleton, and the won- 
der of the nineteenth century in the shape of the Mammoth 
Lady, are present in their works if not in their persons.” 

As he finished speaking Mr. Treat handed the bundle to 
Toby, and then joined in the applause which was being 
given by Mrs. Treat and Ella. 

Toby unrolled the package, and found that it contained a 
circus-rider’s costume of pink tights and blue velvet trunks, 
collar and cuffs, embroidered in white and plentifully span- 
gled with silver. In addition was a wide blue sash for Ella, 
embroidered to correspond with Toby’s costume. 

The little fellow was both delighted with the gift and at 
a loss to know what to say in response. He looked at the 
costume over and over again, and the tears of gratitude that 
these friends should have been so good to him came into 
his eyes. He saw, however, that they were expecting him 
to say something in reply, and, laying the gift on the plat- 
form, he said to the skeleton and his wife, 

“You’ve been so good to me ever since I’ve been with 
the circus that I wish I was big enough to say somethin’ 
more than that I’m much obliged, but I can’t. One of these 
days, when I’m a man, I’ll show you how much I like you, 
an’ then you won’t be sorry that you was good to such a 
poor little runaway boy as I am.” 

Here the skeleton broke in with such loud applause and so 
13 


194 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

many cries of “ Hear ! hear !” that Toby grew still more con- 
fused, and forgot entirely what he was intending to say next. 

“ I want you to know how much obliged I am,” he said, 
after some hesitation, “ an 5 when I wear ’em I’ll ride just 
the best I know how, even if I don’t want to, an’ you sha’n’t 
be sorry that you gave them to me.” 

As Toby concluded he made a funny little awkward bow, 
and then seemed to be trying to hide himself behind a chair 
from the applause which was given so generously. 

“ Bless your dear little heart !” said the fat lady, after 
the confusion had somewhat subsided. “ I know you will 
do your best, anyway, and I’m glad to know that you’re 
going to make your first appearance in something that Sam- 
uel and I made for you.” 

Ella was quite as well pleased with her sash as Toby was 
with his costume, and thanked Mr. and Mrs. Treat in a pret- 
ty little way that made Toby wish he could say anything 
half so nicely. 

The hour which the skeleton had devoted for the purpose 
of the presentation and accompanying speeches having 
elapsed, it was necessary that Ella and Toby should go, and 
that the doors of the exhibition be opened at once, in order 
to give any of the public an opportunity of seeing what the 
placards announced as two of the greatest curiosities on the 
face of the globe. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


J 95 


That day, while Toby performed his arduous labors, his 
heart was very light, for the evidences which the skeleton 
and his wife had given of their regard for him were very 
gratifying. He determined that he would do his very best 
to please so long as he was with the circus, and then, when 
he got a chance to run away, he would do so, but not until 
he had said good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Treat, and thanked 
them again for their interest in him. 

When he had finished his work in the tent that night Mr. 
Lord said to him, as he patted him on the back in the most 
fatherly fashion, and as if he had never spoken a harsh word 
to him, “ You can’t come in here to sell candy now that you 
are one of the performers, my boy ; an’ if I can find another 
boy to-morrow you won’t have to work in the booth any 
longer, an’ your salary of a dollar a week will go on just the 
same, even if you don’t have anything to do but to ride.” 

This was a bit of news that was as welcome to Toby as it 
was unexpected, and he felt more happy then than he had 
for the ten weeks that he had been travelling under Mr. 
Lord’s cruel mastership. 

But there was one thing that night that rather damped 
his joy, and that was that he noticed that Mr. Lord was un« 
usually careful to watch him, not even allowing him to go 
outside the tent without following. He saw at once that, if 
he was to have a more easy time, his chances for running 


1 96 Toby Tyler ; or, 

away were greatly diminished, and no number of beautiful 
costumes would have made him content to stay with the 
circus one moment longer than was absolutely necessary. 

That night he told Old Ben of the events of the day, and 
expressed the hope that he might acquit himself creditably 
when he made his first appearance on the following day. 

Ben sat thoughtfully for some time, and then, making all 
the preparations which Toby knew so well signified a long 
bit of advice, he said, “ Toby, my boy, I’ve been with a cir- 
cus, man an’ boy, nigh to forty years, an’ I’ve seen lots of 
youngsters start in just as you’re goin’ to start in to-morrow ; 
but the most of them petered out, because they got to know- 
in’ more’n them that learned ’em did. Now, you remember 
what I say, an’ you’ll find it good advice : whatever busi- 
ness you get into, don’t think you know all about it before 
you’ve begun. Remember that you can always learn some- 
thin’, no matter how old you are, an’ keep your eyes an’ ears 
open, an’ your tongue between your teeth, an’ you’ll amount 
to somethin’, or my name hain’t Ben.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


197 


Chapter XVI. 



TOBY’S FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE RING. 

;HEN the circus entered the town which had 
been selected as the place where Toby was to 
make his debut as a circus rider the boy no- 
ticed a new poster among the many glaring and 
gaudy bills which set forth the varied and numerous attrac- 
tions that were to be found under one canvas for a trifling 
admission fee, and he noticed it with some degree of 
interest, not thinking for a moment that it had any refer- 
ence to him. 

It was printed very much as follows : 


MADEMOISELLE JEANNETTE 

AND 

MONSIEUR AJAX, 

two of the youngest equestrians in the world, will perform their 
graceful, dashing, and daring act entitled 


THE TRIUMPH OF THE INNOCENTS! 

This is the first appearance of these daring young riders together 



198 Toby Tyler ; or \ 

since their separation in Europe last season, and their performance 
in this town will have a new and novel interest. See 

MADEMOISELLE JEANNETTE 

AND 

MONSIEUR AJAX. 

. “ Look there !” said Toby to Ben, as he pointed out the 
poster, which was printed in very large letters, with gor- 
geous coloring, and surmounted by a picture of two very 
small people performing all kinds of impossible feats on 
horseback. “ They’ve got some one else to ride with Ella 
to-day. I wonder who it can be ?” 

Ben looked at Toby for a moment, as if to assure him- 
self that the boy was in earnest in asking the question, and 
then he relapsed into the worst fit of silent laughing that 
Toby had ever seen. After he had quite recovered he 
asked, “ Don’t you know who Monsieur Ajax is ? Hain’t 
you never seen him?” 

“ No,” replied Toby, at a loss to understand what there 
was so very funny in his very natural question. “ I thought 
that I was goin’ to ride with Ella.” 

“Why, that’s you!” almost screamed Ben, in delight. 
“Monsieur Ajax means you — didn’t you know it? You 
don’t suppose they would go to put ‘Toby Tyler’ on the 
bills, do you ? How it would look ! — ‘ Mademoiselle Jean- 
nette an’ Monsieur Toby Tyler !’ ” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


199 


Ben was off in one of his laughing spells again ; and Toby 
sat there, stiff and straight, hardly knowing whether to join 
in the mirth or to get angry at the sport which had been 
made of his name. 

“I don’t care,” he said at length. “I’m sure I think 
Toby Tyler sounds just as well as Monsieur Ajax, an’ I’m 
sure it fits me a good deal better.” 

“ That may be,” said Ben, soothingly ; “ but you see it 
wouldn’t go down so well with the public. They want 
furrin riders, an’ they must have ’em, even if it does spoil 
your name.” 

Despite the fact that he did not like the new name that 
had been given him, Toby could not but feel pleased at 
the glowing terms in which his performance was set off; 
but he did not at all relish the lie that was told about his 
having been with Ella in Europe, and he would have been 
very much better pleased if that portion of it had been left 
off. 

During the forenoon he did not go near Mr. Lord nor 
his candy stand, for Mr. Castle kept him and Ella busily 
engaged in practising the feat which they were to perform 
in the afternoon, and it was almost time for the perform- 
ance to begin before they were allowed even to go to their 
dinner. 

Ella, who had performed several years, was very much 


200 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

more excited over the coming debut than Toby was, and 
the reason why he did not show more interest was, probably, 
because of his great desire to leave the circus as soon as 
possible, and during that forenoon he thought very much 
more of how he should get back to Guilford and Uncle 
Daniel than he did of how he should get along when he 
stood before the audience. 

Mr. Castle assisted his pupil to dress, and when that was 
done to his entire satisfaction he said, in a stern voice, 
“ Now, you can do this act all right, and if you slip up on 
it, and don’t do it as you ought to, I’ll give you such a whip- 
ping when you come out of the ring that you’ll think Job 
was only fooling with you when he tried to whip you.” 

Toby had been feeling reasonably cheerful before this, 
but these words dispelled all his cheerful thoughts, and he 
was looking most disconsolate when Old Ben came into the 
dressing- tent. 

“ All ready are you, my boy ?” said the old man, in his 
cheeriest voice. “ Well, that’s good, an’ you look as nice as 
possible. Now, remember what I told you last night, Toby, 
an’ go in there to do your level best an’ make a name for 
yourself. Come out here with me an’ wait for the young 
lady.” 

These cheering words of Ben’s did Toby as much good 
as Mr. Castle’s had the reverse, and as he stepped out of 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


201 


the dressing-room to the place where the horses were being 
saddled Toby resolved that he would do his very best that 
afternoon, if for no other reason than to please his old 
friend. 

Toby was not naturally what might be called a pretty 
boy, for his short red hair and his freckled face prevented 
any great display of beauty; but he was a good, honest- 
looking boy, and in his tasteful costume looked very nice 
indeed — so nice that, could Mrs. Treat have seen him just 
then, she would have been very proud of her handiwork 
and hugged him harder than ever. 

He had been waiting but a few moments when Ella came 
from her dressing-room, and Toby was very much pleased 
when he saw by the expression of her face that she was per- 
fectly satisfied with his appearance. 

“ We’ll both do just as well as we can,” she whispered to 
him, “ and I know the people will like us, and make us 
come back after we get through. And if they do mamma 
says she’ll give each one of us a gold dollar.” 

She had taken hold of Toby’s hand as she spoke, and her 
manner was so earnest and anxious that Toby was more 
excited than he ever had been about his debut ; and, had he 
gone into the ring j ust at that moment, the chances are that 
he would have surprised even his teacher by his riding. 

“ I’ll do just as well as I can,” said Toby, in reply to his 


202 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

little companion, “ an’ if we earn the dollars I’ll have a 
hole bored in mine, an’ you shall wear it around your neck 
to remember me by.” 

“ I’ll remember you without that,” she whispered ; “ and 
I’ll give you mine, so that you shall have so much the more 
when you go to your home.” 

There was no time for further conversation, for Mr. 
Castle entered just then to tell them that they must go in 
in another moment. The horses were all ready — a black 
one for Toby, and a white one for Ella — and they stood 
champing their bits and pawing the earth in their impa- 
tience until the silver bells with which they were decorated 
rung out quick, nervous little chimes that accorded very 
well with Toby’s feelings. 

Ella squeezed Toby’s hand as they stood waiting for the 
curtain to be raised that they might enter, and he had just 
time to return it when the signal was given, and almost 
before he was aware of it they were standing in the ring, 
kissing their hands to the crowds that packed the enor- 
mous tent to its utmost capacity. 

Thanks to the false announcement about the separation 
of the children in Europe and their reunion in this particu- 
lar town, the applause was long and loud, and before it had 
died away Toby had time to recover a little from the queer 
feeling which this sea of heads gave him. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


203 


He had never seen such a crowd before, except as he had 
seen them as he walked around at the foot of the seats, and 
then they had simply looked like so many human beings; 
but as he saw them now from the ring they appeared like 
strange rows of heads without bodies, and he had hard work 
to keep from running back behind the curtain from whence 
he had come. 

Mr. Castle acted as the ring-master this time, and after 
he had introduced them — very much after the fashion of 
the posters — and the clown had repeated some funny joke, 
the horses were led in, and they were assisted to mount. 

“ Don’t mind the people at all,” said Mr. Castle, in a low 
voice, “but ride just as if you were alone here with me.” 

The music struck up, the horses cantered around the 
ring, and Toby had really started as a circus rider. 

“ Remember,” said Ella to him, in a low tone, just as the 
horses started, “you told me that you would ride just as 
well as you could, and we must earn the dollars mamma 
promised.” 

It seemed to Toby at first as if he could not stand up 5 
but by the time they had ridden around the ring once, and 
Ella had again cautioned him against making any mistake, 
for the sake of the money which they were going to earn, 
he was calm and collected enough to carry out his part of 
the “ act ” as well as if he had been simply taking a lesson. 


204 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

The act consisted in their riding side by side, jumping 
over banners and through hoops covered with paper, and 
then the most difficult portion began. 

The saddles were taken off the horses, and they were to 
ride first on one horse and then on the other, until they con- 
cluded their performance by riding twice around the ring 
side by side, standing on their horses, each one with a hand 
on the other’s shoulder. 

All this was successfully accomplished without a single 
error, and when they rode out of the ring the applause was 
so great as to leave no doubt but that they would be recall- 
ed, and thus earn the promised money. 

In fact, they had hardly got inside the curtain when one 
of the attendants called to them, and before they had time 
even to speak to each other they were in the ring again, re- 
peating the last portion of their act. 

When they came out of the ring for the second time 
they found Old Ben, the skeleton, the fat lady, and Mr. 
Jacob Lord waiting to welcome them ; but before any one 
could say a word Ella had stood on tiptoe again and given 
Toby just such another kiss as she did when he told her 
that he would surely stay long enough to appear in the ring 
with her once. 

“That’s because you rode so well and helped me so 
much,” she said, as she saw Toby’s cheeks growing a fiery 



MADEMOISELLE JEANNETTE ANJ> MONSIEUR 


AJAX, 



Ten Weeks with a Circus' 


207 

red ; and then she turned to those who were waiting to 
greet her. 

Mrs. Treat took her in her enormous arms, and having 
kissed her, put her down quickly, and clasped Toby as if 
he had been a very small walnut and her arms a very large 
pair of nut-crackers. 

“ Bless the boy !” she exclaimed, as she kissed him again 
and again with an energy and force that made her kissee 
sound like the crack of the whip, and caused the horses to 
stamp in affright. “ I knew he’d amount to something one 
of these days, an’ Samuel an’ I had to come out, when busi- 
ness was dull, just to see how he got along.” 

It was some time before she would unloose him from her 
motherly embrace, and when she did the skeleton grasped 
him by the hand, and said, in the most pompous and af- 
fected manner, 

“ Mr. Tyler, we’re proud of you, and when we saw that 
costume of yours, that my Lilly embroidered with her own 
hands, we was both proud of it and what it contained. 
You’re a great rider, my boy, a great rider, and you’ll stand 
at the head of the profession some day, if you only stick 
to it.” 

“ Thank you, sir,” was all Toby had time to say before 
Old Ben had him by the hand, and the skeleton was pour- 
ing out his congratulations in little Miss Ella’s ear. 


208 


Toby Tyler ; or \ 

“ Toby, my boy, you did well, an’ now you’ll amount to 
something, if you only remember what I told you last 
night,” said Ben, as he looked upon the boy whom he had 
come to think of as his protege, with pride. “ I never seen 
anybody of your age do any better; an’ now, instead of 
bein’ only a candy peddler, you’re one of the stars of the 
show.” 

“ Thank you, Ben,” was all that Toby could say, for he 
knew that his old friend meant every word that he said, 
and it pleased him so much that he could say no more 
than “ Thank you ” in reply. 

“ I feel as if your triumph was mine,” said Mr. Lord, 
looking benignly at Toby from out his crooked eye, and as- 
suming the most fatherly tone at his command ; “ I have 
learned to look upon you almost as my own son, and your 
success is very gratifying to me.” 

Toby was not at all flattered by this last praise. If he 
had never seen Mr. Lord before, he might, and probably 
would, have been deceived by his words ; but he had seen 
him too often, and under too many painful circumstances, 
to be at all swindled by his words. 

Toby was very much pleased with his success and by 
the praise he received from all, and when the proprietor of 
the circus came along, patted him on the head, and told 
him that he rode very nicely, he was quite happy, until he 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


209 


chanced to see the greedy twinkle in Mr. Lord’s eye, and 
then he knew that all this success and all this praise were 
only binding him faster to the show which he was so anx- 
ious to escape from ; his pleasure vanished very quickly, 
and in its stead came a bitter, homesick feeling which no 
amount of praise could banish. 

It was Old Ben who helped him to undress after the 
skeleton and the fat lady had gone back to their tent, and 
Ella had gone to dress for her appearance with her mother, 
for now she was obliged to ride twice at each performance. 
When Toby was in his ordinary clothes again Ben said, 

“Now that you’re one of the performers, Toby, you 
won’t have to sell candy any more, an’ you’ll have the 
most of your time to yourself, so let’s you an’ I go out an’ 
see the town.” 

“ Don’t you s’pose Mr. Lord expects me to go to work 
for him again to-day ?” 

“ An’ s’posin’ he does ?” said Ben, with a chuckle. “ You 
don’t s’pose the boss would let any one that rides in the 
ring stand behind Job Lord’s counter, do you? You can 
do just as you have a mind to, my boy, an’ I say to you, 
let’s go out an’ see the town. What do you say to it ?” 

“ I’d like to go first-rate, if I dared to,” replied Toby, 
thinking of the many whippings he had received for far 
less than that which Ben now proposed he should do. 

14 


2 IO 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

“ Oh, I’ll take care that Job don’t bother you, so come 
along and Ben started out of the tent, and Toby followed, 
feeling considerably frightened at this first act of disobedi- 
ence against his old master. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


2 1 I 


Chapter XVII. 



OFF FOR HOME! 

URING this walk Toby learned many things that 
were of importance to him, so far as his plan for 
running away was concerned. In the first place, 
he gleaned from the railroad posters that were 
stuck up in the hotel to which they went that he could buy 
a ticket for Guilford for seven dollars, and also that, by 
going back to the town from which they had just come, he 
could go to Guilford by steamer for five dollars. 

By returning to this last town — and Toby calculated that 
the fare on the stage back there could not be more than a 
dollar — he would have ten dollars left, and that surely ought 
to be sufficient to buy food enough for two days for the 
most hungry boy that ever lived. 

When they returned to the circus grounds the perform- 
ance was over, and Mr. Lord in the midst of the brisk trade 
which he usually had after the afternoon performance, and 
yet, so far from scolding Toby for going away, he actually 
smiled and bowed at him as he saw him go by with Ben. 


212 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

“See there, Toby,” said the old driver to the boy, as lie 
gave him a vigorous poke in the ribs and then went off into 
one of his dreadful laughing spells — “ see what it is to be a 
performer, an’ not workin’ for such an old fossil as Job is ! 
He’ll be so sweet to you now that sugar won’t melt in his 
mouth, an’ there’s no chance of his ever attemptin’ to whip 
you again.” 

Toby made no reply, for he was too busily engaged think- 
ing of something which had just come into his mind to 
know that his friend had spoken. 

But as Old Ben hardly knew whether the boy had an- 
swered him or not, owing to his being obliged to struggle 
with his breath lest he should lose it in the second laughing 
spell that attacked him, the boy’s thoughtfulness was not 
particularly noticed. 

Toby walked around the show-grounds for a little while 
with his old friend, and then the two went to supper, where 
Toby performed quite as great wonders in the way of eat- 
ing as he had in the afternoon by riding. 

As soon as the supper was over he quietly slipped away 
from Old Ben, and at once paid a visit to Mr. and Mrs. 
Treat, whom he found cosily engaged with their supper be- 
hind the screen. 

They welcomed Toby most cordially, and, despite his as- 
sertions that he had just finished a very hearty meal, the fat 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 213 

lady made him sit down to the box which served as table, 
and insisted on his trying some of her doughnuts. 

Under all these pressing attentions it was some time be- 
fore Toby found a chance to say that which he had come to 
say, and when he did he was almost at a loss how to pro- 
ceed ; but at last he commenced by starting abruptly on his 
subject with the words, “ I’ve made up my mind to leave 
to-night.” 

“ Leave to-night ?” repeated the skeleton, inquiringly, not 
for a moment believing that Toby could think of running 
away after the brilliant success he had just made. “ What 
do you mean, Toby ?” 

“ Why, you know that I’ve been wantin’ to get away from 
the circus,” said Toby, a little impatient that his friend 
should be so wonderfully stupid, “ an’ I think that I’ll have 
as good a chance now as ever I shall, so I’m goin’ to try it.” 

“Bless us!” exclaimed the fat lady, in a gasping way. 
*You don’t mean to say that you’re goin’ off just when 
you’ve started in the business so well? I thought you’d 
want to stay after you’d been so well received this after- 
noon.” 

“ No,” said Toby — and one quick little sob popped right 
up from his heart and out before he was aware of it — “I 
learned to ride because I had to, but I never give up run- 
nin’ away. I must see Uncle Dan’l, an’ tell him how sorry 


214 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

I am for what I did ; an’ if he won’t have anything to say 
to me then I’ll come back; but if he’ll let me I’ll stay 
there, an’ I’ll be so good that by-’n’-by he’ll forget that I 
run off an’ left him without sayin’ a word.” 

There was such a touch of sorrow in his tones, so much 
pathos in his way of speaking, that good Mrs. Treat’s heart 
was touched at once ; and putting her arms around the little 
fellow, as if to shield him from some harm, she said, ten- 
derly, “ And so you shall go, Toby, my boy ; but if you ever 
want a home or anybody to love you come right here to us, 
and you’ll never be sorry. So long as Sam keeps thin and 
I fat enough to draw the public, you never need say that 
you’re homeless, for nothing would please us better than to 
have you come to live with us.” 

For reply Toby raised his head and kissed her on the 
cheek, a proceeding which caused her to squeeze him harder 
than ever. 

During this conversation the skeleton had remained very 
thoughtful. After a moment or two he got up from his seat, 
went outside the tent, and presently returned with a quan- 
tity of silver ten-cent pieces in his hand. 

“ Here, Toby,” he said — and it was to be seen that he 
was really too much affected even to attempt one of his 
speeches — “ it’s right that you should go, for I’ve known 
what it is to feel just as you do. What Lilly said about 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 215 

your having a home with us I say, an’ here’s five dollars 
that I want you to take to help you along.” 

At first Toby stoutly refused to take the money ; but they 
both insisted to such a degree that he was actually forced 
to, and then he stood up to go. 

“ I’m goin’ to try to slip off after Job packs up the out- 
side booth if I can,” he said, “ an’ it was to say good-bye 
that I come around here.” 

Again Mrs. Treat took the boy in her arms, as if it were 
one of her own children who was leaving her, and as she 
stroked his hair back from his forehead she said, “Don’t 
forget us, Toby, even if you never do see us again ; try an’ 
remember how much we cared for you, an’ how much com- 
fort you’re taking away from us when you go ; for it was a 
comfort to see you around, even if you wasn’t with us very 
much. Don’t forget us, Toby, an’ if you ever get the chance 
come an’ see us. Good-bye, Toby, good-bye.” And the kind- 
hearted woman kissed him again and again, and then turned 
her back resolutely upon him, lest it should be bad luck to 
him if she again saw him after saying good-bye. 

The skeleton’s parting was not quite so demonstrative. 
He clasped Toby’s hand with one set of his fleshless fingers, 
while with the other he wiped one or two suspicious-looking 
drops of moisture from his eyes, as he said, “ I hope you’ll 
get along all right, my boy, and I believe you will. You 


216 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

will get home to Uncle Daniel, and be happier than ever, 
for now you know what it is to be entirely without a home. 
Be a good boy, mind your uncle, go to school, and one of 
these days you’ll make a good man. Good-bye, my boy.” 

The tears were now streaming down Toby’s face very 
rapidly ; he had not known, in his anxiety to get home, how 
very much he cared for this strangely assorted couple, and 
now it made him feel very miserable and wretched that he 
was going to leave them. He tried to say something more, 
but the tears choked his utterance, and he left the tent 
quickly to prevent himself from breaking down entirely. 

In order that his grief might not be noticed, and the 
cause of it suspected, Toby went out behind the tent, and, 
sitting there on a stone, he gave way to the tears which he 
could no longer control. 

While he was thus engaged, heeding nothing which 
passed around him, he was startled by a cheery voice which 
cried, “ Halloo ! down in the dumps again ? What is the 
matter now, my bold equestrian ?” 

Looking up, he saw Ben standing before him, and he 
wiped his eyes hastily, for here was another from whom he 
must part, and to whom a good-bye must be spoken. 

Looking around to make sure that no one was within 
hearing, he went up very close to the old driver, and said, 
in almost a whisper, “I was feelin’ bad ’cause I just come 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 217 

from Mr. and Mrs. Treat, an’ I’ve been say in’ good-bye to 
them. I’m goin’ to run away to-night.” 

Ben looked at him for a moment, as if he doubted 
whether the boy knew exactly what he was talking about, 
and then said, “ So you still want to go home, do you ?” 

“ Oh yes, Ben, so much,” was the reply, in a tone which 
expressed how dear to him was the thought of being in his 
old home once more. 

“ All right, my boy ; I won’t say one word agin it, though 
it do seem too bad, after you’ve turned out to be such a 
good rider,” said the old man, thoughtfully. “ It’s better 
for you, I know ; for a circus hain’t no place for a boy, 
even if he wants to stay, an’ I can’t say but I’m glad you’re 
still determined to go.” 

Toby felt relieved at the tone of this leave-taking. He 
had feared that Old Ben, who thought a circus-rider was al- 
most on the topmost round of Fortune’s ladder, would have 
urged him to stay, since he had made his debut in the ring, 
and he was almost afraid that he might take some steps to 
prevent his going. 

“ I wanted to say good-bye now,” said Toby, in a choking 
voice, “ ’cause perhaps I sha’n’t see you again.” 

“ Good-bye, my boy,” said Ben as he took the boy’s hand 
in his. “Don’t forget this experience you’ve had in runnin’ 
away ; an’ if ever the time comes that you feel as if you 


2 1 8 


Tody Tyler ; or , 

wanted to know that you had a friend, think of Old Ben, 
an’ remember that his heart beats j ust as warm for you as if 
he was your father. Good-bye, my boy, good-bye, an’ may 
the good God bless you !” 

“ Good-bye, Ben,” said Toby ; and then, as the old driver 
turned and walked away, wiping something from his eye 
with the cuff of his sleeve, Toby gave full vent to his tears, 
and wondered why it was that he was such a miserable 
little wretch. 

There was one more good-bye to be said, and that Toby 
dreaded more than all the others. It was to Ella. He 
knew that she would feel badly to have him go, because 
she liked to ride the act with him that gave them such 
applause, and he felt certain that she would urge him to 
stay. 

Just then the thought of another of his friends — one who 
had not yet been warned of what very important matter 
was to occur — came into his mind, and he hastened toward 
the old monkey’s cage. His pet was busily engaged in play- 
ing with some of the younger members of his family, and 
for some moments could not be induced to come to the bars 
of the cage. 

At last, however, Toby did succeed in coaxing him for- 
ward, and then, taking him by the paw, and drawing him 
as near as possible, Toby whispered, “ We’re goin’ to run 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


219 

away to night, Mr. Stubbs, an’ I want you to be all ready to 
go the minute I come for you.” 

The old monkey winked both eyes violently, and then 
showed his teeth to such an extent that Toby thought he 
was laughing at the prospect, and he said, a little severely, 
“ If you had as many friends as I have got in this circus 
y</u wouldn’t laugh when you was goin’ to leave them. Of 
course I’ve got to go, an’ I want to go ; but it makes me 
feel bad to leave the skeleton, an’ the fat woman, an’ Old 
Ben, an’ little Ella. But I mustn’t stand here. You be 
ready when I come for you, an’ by mornin’ we’ll be so far 
off that Mr. Lord nor Mr. Castle can’t catch us.” 

The old monkey went toward his companions, as if he 
were in high glee at the trip before him, and Toby went 
into the dressing tent to prepare for the evening’s perform- 
ance — which was about to commence. 

It appeared to the boy as if every one was unusually kind 
to him that night, and, feeling sad at leaving those in the 
circus who had befriended him, Toby was unusually atten- 
tive to every one around him. He ran on some trifling 
errand for one, helped another in his dressing, and in a 
dozen kind ways seemed as if trying to atone for leaving 
them secretly. 

When the time came for him to go into the ring and he 
met Ella, bright and happy at the thought of riding with 


220 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

him and repeating her triumphs of the afternoon, nothing 
save the thought of how wicked he had been to run away 
from good old Uncle Daniel, and a desire to right that 
wrong in some way, prevented him from giving up his plan 
of going back. 

The little girl observed his sadness, and she whispered, 
“ Has any one been whipping you, Toby V 

Toby shook his head. He had thought that he would tell 
her what he was about to do just before they went into the 
ring, but her kind words seemed to make that impossible, 
and he had said nothing, when the blare of the trumpets, the 
noisy demonstrations of the audience, and the announce- 
ment of the clown that the wonderful children riders were 
now about to appear, ushered them into the ring. 

If Toby had performed well in the afternoon, he accom- 
plished wonders on this evening, and they were called back 
into the ring, not once, but twice ; and when finally they 
were allowed to retire, every one behind the curtain over- 
whelmed them with praise. 

Ella was so profuse with her kind words, her admiration 
for what Toby had done, and so delighted at the idea that 
they were to ride together, that even then the boy could not 
tell her what he was going to do, but went into his dressing- 
room, resolving that he would tell her all when they both 
had finished dressing. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


221 


Toby made as small a parcel as possible of the costume 
which Mr. and Mrs. Treat had given him — for he deter- 
mined that he would take it with him — and, putting it under 
his coat, went out to wait for Ella. As she did not come 
out as soon as he expected he asked some one to tell her 
that he wanted to see her, and he thought to himself that 
when she did come she would be in a hurry, and could not 
stop long enough to make any very lengthy objections to 
his leaving. 

But she did not come at all — her mother sent out word 
that Toby could not see her until after the performance was 
over, owing to the fact that it was now nearly time for her 
to go into the ring, and she was not dressed yet. 

Toby was terribly disappointed. He knew that it would 
not be safe for him to wait until the close of the perform- 
ance if he were intending to run away that night, and he 
felt that he could not go until he had said a few last words 
to her. 

He was in a great perplexity, until the thought came to 
him that he could write a good-bye to her, and by this 
means any unpleasant discussion would be avoided. 

After some little difficulty he procured a small piece of 
not very clean paper and a very short bit of lead -pencil, 
and using the top of one of the wagons, as he sat on the 
seat, for a desk, he indited the following epistle : 


222 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

“deaR ella I Am goin to Run away two night, & i want two say good by 
to yu & your mother, i am Small & unkle Danil says i dont mount two 
much, but i am old enuf two know that you have bin good two me, & when i 
Am a man i will buy you a whole cirkus, and we Will ride together, dont 
forgit me & I wont yu in haste Toby Tyler. *■ 

Toby had no envelope in which to seal this precious letter, 
but he felt that it would not be seen by prying eyes, and 
would safely reach its destination, if he intrusted it to Old 
Ben. 

It did not take him many moments to find the old driver, 
and he said, as he handed him the letter, “ I didn’t see Ella 
to tell her I was goin’, so I wrote this letter, an’ I want to 
know if you will give it to her ?” 

“ Of course I will. But see here, Toby ” — and Ben caught 
him by the sleeve and led him aside where he would not 
be overheard — “ have you got money enough to take you 
home? for if you haven’t I can let you have some.” And 
Ben plunged his hand into his capacious pocket, as if he 
was about to withdraw from there the entire United States 
Treasury. 

Toby assured him that he had sufficient for all his wants ; 
but the old man would not be satisfied until he had seen 
for himself, and then, taking Toby’s hand again, he said, 
“ Now, my boy, it won’t do for you to stay around here any 
longer. Buy something to eat before you start, an’ go into the 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 223 

woods for a day or two before you take the train or steam- 
boat. You’re too big a prize for Job or Castle to let you 
go without a word, an’ they’ll try their level best to find 
you. Be careful, now, for if they should catch you, good- 
bye any more chances to get away. There ” — and here Ben 
suddenly lifted him high from the ground and kissed him 
* — “ now get away as fast as you can.” 

Toby pressed the old man’s hand affectionately, and then, 
without trusting himself to speak, walked swiftly out toward 
the entrance. 

He resolved to take Ben’s advice and go into the woods 
for a short time, and therefore he must buy some provisions 
before he started. 

As he passed the monkeys’ cage he saw his pet sitting 
near the bars, and he stopped long enough to whisper, “ I’ll 
be back in ten minutes, Mr. Stubbs, an’ you be all ready 
then.” 

Then he went on, and just as he got near the entrance 
one of the men told him that Mrs. Treat wished to see 
him. 

Toby could hardly afford to spare the time just then, but 
he would probably have obeyed the summons, if he had 
known that by so doing he would be caught, and he ran as 
fast as his little legs would carry him toward the skeleton’s 
tent. 


224 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

The exhibition was open, and both the skeleton and his 
wife were on the platform when Toby entered ; but he crept 
around at the back and up behind Mrs. Treat’s chair, tell- 
ing her as he did so that he had just received her message, 
and that he must hurry right back, for every moment was 
important then to him. 

“ I put up a nice lunch for you,” she said as she kissed 
him, “ and you’ll find it on the top of the biggest trunk. 
Now go; and if my wishes are of any good to you, you 
will get to your uncle Daniel’s house without any trouble. 
Good-bye again, little one.” 

Toby did not dare to trust himself any longer where 
every one was so kind to him. He slipped down from the 
platform as quickly as possible, found the bundle — and a 
good-sized one it was too — without any difficulty, and went 
back to the monkeys’ cage. 

As orders had been given by the proprietor of the circus 
that the boy should do as he had a mind to with the mon- 
key, he called Mr. Stubbs ; and as he was in the custom of 
taking him with him at night, no one thought that it was 
anything strange that he should take him from the cage 
now. 

Mr. Lord or Mr. Castle might possibly haVe thought it 
queer had either of them seen the two bundles which Toby 
carried, but, fortunately for the boy’s scheme, they both be- 



THE RUNAWAYS. 



\ \ ' 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 227 

lieved that he was in the dressing- tent, and consequently 
thought that he was perfectly safe. 

Toby’s hand shook so that he could hardly undo the fast- 
ening of the cage, and when he attempted to call the mon- 
key to him his voice sounded so strange and husky that it 
startled him. 

The old monkey seemed to prefer sleeping with Toby 
rather than with those of his kind in the cage ; and as the 
boy took him with him almost every night, he came on this 
particular occasion as soon as Toby called, regardless of the 
strange sound of his master’s voice. 

With his bundles under his arm, and the monkey on his 
shoulder, with both paws tightly clasped around his neck, 
Toby made his way out of the tent with beating heart and 
bated breath. 

Neither Mr. Lord, Castle, nor Jacobs were in sight, and 
everything seemed favorable for his flight. During the af- 
ternoon he had carefully noted the direction of the woods, 
and he started swiftly toward them now, stopping only long 
enough, as he was well clear of the tents, to say, in a 
whisper, 

“ Good-bye, Mr. Treat, an’ Mrs. Treat, an’ Ella, an’ Ben. 
Some time, when I’m a man, I’ll come back, an’ bring you 
lots of nice things, an’ I’ll never forget you — never. When 
I have a chance to be good to some little boy that felt as 


228 Toby Tyler ; or , 

bad as I did I’ll do it, an’ tell him that it was you did it. 
Good-bye.” 

Then, turning around, he ran toward the woods as swiftly 
as if his escape had been discovered and the entire com- 
pany were in pursuit. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


229 


Chapter XVIII. 



A DAY OF FREEDOM. 

TOBY ran at the top of his speed over the rough 
road ; and the monkey, jolted from one side to the 
other, clutched his paws more tightly around the 
boy’s neck, looking around into his face as if to 
ask what was the meaning of this very singular proceeding. 

When he was so very nearly breathless as to be able to 
run no more, but was forced to walk, Toby looked behind 
him, and there he could see the bright lights of the circus, 
and hear the strains of the music as he had heard them on 
the night when he was getting ready to run away from 
Uncle Daniel; and those very sounds, which reminded him 
forcibly of how ungrateful he had been to the old man 
who had cared for him when there was no one else in the 
world who would do so, made it more easy for him to leave 
those behind who had been so kind to him when he stood 
so much in need of kindness. 

“We are goin’ home, Mr. Stubbs !” he said, exultantly, to 
the monkey — “ home to Uncle Dan’l an’ the boys ; an’ won’t 


230 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

you have a good time when we get there ! You can run 
all over the barn, an’ up in the trees, an’ do just what you 
want to, an’ there’ll be plenty of fellows to play with you. 
You don’t know half how good a place Guilford is, Mr. 
Stubbs.” 

The monkey chattered away as if he were anticipating 
lots of fun on his arrival at Toby’s home, and the boy chat- 
tered back, his spirits rising at every step which took him 
farther away from the collection of tents where he had 
spent so many wretched hours. 

A brisk walk of half an hour sufficed to take Toby to 
the woods, and after some little search he found a thick 
clump of bushes in which he concluded he could sleep 
without the risk of being seen by any one who might pass 
that way before he should be awake in the morning. 

He had not much choice in the way of a bed, for it was 
so dark in the woods that it was impossible to collect moss 
or leaves to make a soft resting-place, and the few leaves 
and pine -boughs which he did gather made his place for 
sleeping but very little softer. 

But during the ten weeks that Toby had been with the 
circus his bed had seldom been anything softer than the 
seat of the wagon, and it troubled him very little that he 
was to sleep with nothing but a few leaves between him- 
self and the earth. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


231 


Using the bundle in which was his riding costume for a 
pillow, and placing the lunch Mrs. Treat had given him near 
by, where the monkey could not get at it conveniently, he 
cuddled Mr. Stubbs up in his bosom and lay down to sleep. 

“ Mr. Lord won’t wake us up in the mornin’ an’ swear at 
us for not washin’ the tumblers,” said Toby, in a tone of 
satisfaction, to the monkey ; “ an’ we won’t have to go into 
the tent to-morrow an’ sell sick lemonade an’ poor pea- 
nuts. But ” — and here his tone changed to one of sorrow 
— “there’ll be some there that ’ll be sorry not to see us in 
the mornin’, Mr. Stubbs, though they’ll be glad to know 
that we got away all right. But won’t Mr. Lord swear, an’ 
won’t Mr. Castle crack his whip, when they come to look 
round for us in the mornin’ an’ find that we hain’t there !” 

The only reply which the monkey made to this was to 
nestle his head closer under Toby’s coat, and to show, in 
the most decided manner, that he was ready to go to sleep. 

And Toby was quite as ready to go to sleep as he was. 
He had worked hard that day, but the excitement of es- 
caping had prevented him from realizing his fatigue until 
after he had lain down; and almost before he had got 
through congratulating himself upon the ease with which 
he had gotten free, both he and the monkey were as sound 
asleep as if they had been tucked up in the softest bed 
that was ever made. 


232 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

Toby’s very weariness was a friend to him that night, 
for it prevented him from waking ; which, if he had done 
so, might have been unpleasant when he fully realized that 
he was all alone in the forest, and the sounds that are al- 
ways heard in the woods might have frightened him just 
the least bit. 

The sun was shining directly in his face when Toby 
awoke on the following morning, and the old monkey was 
still snugly nestled under his coat. He sat up rather dazed 
at first, and then, as he fully realized that he was actually 
free from all that had made his life such a sad and hard 
one for so many weeks, he shouted aloud, revelling in his 
freedom. 

The monkey, awakened by Toby’s cries, started from his 
sleep in affright and jumped into the nearest tree, only to 
chatter, jump, and swing from the boughs when he saw 
that there was nothing very unusual going on, save that he 
and Toby were out in the woods again, where they could 
have no end of a good time and do just as they liked. 

After a few moments spent in a short jubilee at their 
escape Toby took the monkey on his shoulder and the 
bundles under his arm again, and went cautiously out to 
the edge of the thicket, where he could form some idea as 
to whether or no they were pursued. 

He had entered the woods at the brow of a small hill 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


233 


when he had fled so hastily on the previous evening, and 
looking down, he could see the spot whereon the tents of 
die circus had been pitched, but not a sign of them was 
now visible. He could see a number of people walking 
around, and he fancied that they looked up every now and 
then to where he stood concealed by the foliage. 

This gave him no little uneasiness, for he feared that 
Mr. Lord or Mr. Castle might be among the number, and 
he believed that they would begin a search for him at once, 
and that the spot where their attention would first be drawn 
was exactly where he was then standing. 

“ This won’t do, Mr. Stubbs,” he said, as he pushed the 
monkey higher up on his shoulder and started into the 
thickest part of the woods ; “ we must get out of this place, 
an’ go farther down, where we can hide till to-morrow 
momin’. Besides, we must find some water where we can 
wash our faces.” 

The old monkey would hardly have been troubled if 
they had not their faces washed for the next month to 
come; but he grinned and talked as Toby trudged along, 
attempting to catch hold of the leaves as they were passed, 
and in various other ways impeding his master’s progress, 
until Toby was obliged to give him a most severe scolding 
in order to make him behave himself in anything like a 
decent manner. 


2 34 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

At last, after fully half an hour’s rapid walking, Toby 
found just the place he wanted in which to pass the time 
he concluded it would be necessary to spend before he dare 
venture out to start for home. 

It was a little valley entirely filled by trees, which grew 
so thickly, save in one little spot, as to make it almost im- 
possible to walk through. The one clear spot was not more 
than ten feet square, but it was just at the edge of a swift- 
ly running brook ; and a more beautiful or convenient place 
for a boy and a monkey to stop who had no tent, nor means 
to build one, could not well be imagined. 

Toby’s first act was to wash his face, and he tried to 
make the monkey do the same ; but Mr. Stubbs had no idea 
of doing any such foolish thing. He would come down 
close to the edge of the water and look in ; but the moment 
that Toby tried to make him go in he would rush back 
among the trees, climb out on some slender bough, and then 
swing himself down by the tail, and chatter away as if mak- 
ing sport of his young master for thinking that he would 
be so foolish as to soil his face with water. 

After Toby had made his toilet he unfastened the bun- 
dle which the fat lady had given him, for the purpose of 
having breakfast. As much of an eater as Toby was, he 
could not but be surprised at the quantity of food which 
Mrs. Treat called a lunch. There were two whole pies and 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


235 


half of another, as many as two dozen doughnuts, several 
large pieces of cheese, six sandwiches, with a plentiful 
amount of meat, half a dozen biscuits, nicely buttered, and 
a large piece of cake. 

The monkey had come down from the tree as soon as he 
saw Toby untying the bundle, and there was quite as much 
pleasure depicted on his face, when he saw the good things 
that were spread out before him, as there was on Toby’s ; 
and he showed his thankfulness at Mrs. Treat’s foresight by 
suddenly snatching one of the doughnuts and running with 
it up the tree, where he knew Toby could not follow. 

“ Now look here, Mr. Stubbs !” said Toby, sternly, “ you 
can have all you want to eat, but you must take it in a de- 
cent way, an’ not go to cuttin’ up any such shines as that.” 

And after giving this command — which, by-the-way, was 
obeyed just about as well as it was understood— Toby de- 
voted his time to his breakfast, and he reduced the amount 
of eatables very considerably before he had finished. 

Toby cleared off his table by gathering the food together 
and putting it back into the paper as well as possible, and 
then he sat down to think over the situation, and to decide 
what he had better do. 

He felt rather nervous about venturing out when it was 
possible for Mr. Lord or Mr. Castle to get hold of him 
again ; and as the weather was yet warm during the night, 


23 6 Toby Tyler ; or, 

his camping-place everything that could be desired, and the 
stock of food likely to hold out, he concluded that he had 
better remain there for two days at least, and then he would 
be reasonably sure that if either of the men whom he so 
dreaded to see had remained behind for the purpose of 
catching him, he would have got tired out and gone on. 

This point decided upon, the next was to try to fix up 
something soft for a bed. He had his pocket-knife with 
him, and in his little valley were pine and hemlock trees in 
abundance. From the tips of their branches he knew that 
he could make a bed as soft and fragrant as any that could 
be thought of, and he set to work at once, while Mr. Stubbs 
continued his antics above his head. 

After about two hours’ steady work he had cut enough of 
the tender branches to make himself a bed into which he 
and the monkey could burrow and sleep as comfortably as 
if they were in the softest bed in Uncle Daniel’s house. 

When Toby first began to cut the boughs he had an idea 
that he might possibly make some sort of a hut; but the 
two hours’ work had blistered his hands, and he was per- 
fectly ready to sit down and rest, without the slightest de- 
sire for any other kind of a hut than that formed by the 
trees themselves. 

Toby imagined that in that beautiful place he could, 
with the monkey, stay contented for any number of days ; 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


237 


but after he had rested a time, played with his pet a little, 
and eaten just a trifle more of the lunch, the time passed so 
slowly that he soon made up his mind to run the risk of 
meeting Mr. Lord or Mr. Castle again by going out of the 
woods the first thing the next morning. 

Very many times before the sun set that day was Toby 
tempted to run the risk that night, for the sake of the 
change, if no more ; but as he thought the matter over he 
saw how dangerous such a course would be, and he forced 
himself to wait. 

That night he did not sleep as soundly as on the previous 
one, for the very good reason that he was not as tired. He 
awoke several times; and the noise of the night-birds 
alarmed him to such an extent that he was obliged to 
awaken the old monkey for company. 

But the night passed despite his fears, as all nights will, 
whether a boy is out in the woods alone or tucked up in his 
own little bed at home. In the morning Toby made all 
possible haste to get away, for each moment that he stayed 
now made him more impatient to be moving toward home. 

He washed himself as quickly as possible, ate his break- 
fast with the most unseemly haste, and, taking up his bun- 
dles and the monkey, once more started, as he supposed, in 
the direction from which he had entered the woods. 

Toby walked briskly along, in the best possible spirits, 


238 Toby Tyler ; or , 

for his running away was now an accomplished fact, and 
he was going toward Uncle Daniel and home just as fast 
as possible. He sung “ Old Hundred ” through five or six 
times by way of showing his happiness. It is quite likely 
that he would have sung something a little more lively had 
he known anything else ; but “ Old Hundred ” was the ex- 
tent of his musical education, and he kept repeating that, 
which was quite as satisfactory as if he had been able to 
go through with every opera that was ever written. 

The monkey would jump from his shoulder into the 
branches above, run along on the trees for a short distance, 
and then wait until Toby came along, when he would drop 
down on his shoulder suddenly, and in every other way of 
displaying monkey delight he showed that he was just as 
happy as it was possible. 

Toby trudged on in this contented way for nearly an 
hour, and every moment expected to step out to the edge 
of the woods, where he could see houses and men once 
more. But instead of doing so the forest seemed to grow 
more dense, and nothing betokened his approach to the 
village. There was a great fear came into Toby’s heart 
just then, and for a moment he halted in helpless perplex- 
ity. His lips began to quiver, his face grew white, and his 
hand trembled so that the old monkey took hold of one of 
his fingers and looked at it wonderingly. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


239 


Chapter XIX. 



MR. STUBBS’S MISCHIEF, AND HIS SAD FATE. 

TOBY had begun to realize that he was lost in 
the woods, and the thought was sufficient to cause 
alarm in the mind of one much older than the 
boy. He said to himself that he would keep on in 
the direction he was then travelling for fifteen minutes; 
and as he had no means of computing the time he sat down 
on a log, took out the bit of pencil with which he had 
written the letter to Ella, and multiplied sixty by fifteen. 
He knew that there were sixty seconds to the minute, and 
that he could ordinarily count one to each second ; there- 
fore, when he learned that there were nine hundred sec- 
onds in fifteen minutes, he resolved to walk as nearly 
straight ahead as possible until he should have counted 
that number. 

He walked on, counting as regularly as he could, and 
thought to himself that he never before realized how long 
fifteen minutes were. It really seemed to him that an 
hour had passed before he finished counting, and then 


240 


Toby Tyler ; or ; 

when he stopped there were no more signs that he was 
near a clearing than there had been before he started. 

“ Ah, Mr. Stubbs, we’re lost! we’re lost!” he cried, as he 
laid his cheek on the monkey’s head and gave way to the 
lonesome grief that came over him. “ What shall we do ? 
Perhaps we won’t ever find our way out, but will die here, 
an’ then Uncle Dan’l won’t ever know how sorry I was 
that I run away.” 

Then Toby lay right down on the ground and cried so 
hard that the monkey acted as if it were frightened, and 
tried to turn the boy’s face over, and finally leaned down 
and licked Toby’s ear. 

This little act, which seemed so much like a kiss, caused 
Toby to feel no small amount of comfort, and he sat up 
again, took the monkey in his arms, and began seriously to 
discuss some definite plan of action. 

“ It won’t do to keep on the way we’ve been goin’, Mr. 
Stubbs,” said Toby, as he looked full in his pet’s face — and 
the old monkey sat as still and looked as grave as it was 
possible for him to look and sit — “ for we must be goin’ 
into the woods deeper. Let’s start off this way ” — and Toby 
pointed at right angles with the course they had been pur- 
suing — “an’ keep right on that way till we come to some- 
thing, or till we drop right down an’ die.” 

It is fair to presume that the old monkey agreed to 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


241 


Toby’s plan ; for although he said nothing in favor of it he 
certainly made no objections to it, which to Toby was the 
same as if his companion had assented to it in the plainest 
English. 

Both the bundles and the monkey were rather a heavy 
load for a small boy like Toby to carry ; but he clung man- 
fully to them, walked resolutely on, without looking to the 
right or to the left, glad when the old monkey would take 
a run among the trees, for then he would be relieved of his 
weight, and glad when he returned, for then he had his 
company, and that repaid him for any labor which he might 
have to perform. 

Toby was in a hard plight as it was ; but without the old 
monkey for a companion he would have thought his con- 
dition was a hundred times worse, and would hardly have 
had the courage to go on as he was going. 

On and on he walked, until it seemed to him that he 
could really go no farther, and yet he could see no signs 
which indicated the end of the woods, and at last he sunk 
upon the ground, too tired to walk another step, saying to 
the monkey — who was looking as if he would like to know 
the reason of this pause — “ It’s no use, Mr. Stubbs, I’ve got 
to sit down here an’ rest awhile, anyhow ; besides, I’m aw- 
fully hungry.” 

Then Toby commenced to eat his dinner, and to give the 
16 


242 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

monkey his, until the thought came to him that he neither 
had any water nor did he know where to find it, and then, 
of course, he immediately became so thirsty that it was im- 
possible for him to eat any more. 

“We can’t stand this,” moaned Toby to the monkey; 
“ we’ve got to have something to drink, or else we can’t eat 
all these sweet things, an’ I’m so tired that I can’t go any 
farther. Don’t let’s eat dinner now, but let’s stay here an’ 
rest, an’ then we can keep on an’ look for water.” 

Toby’s resting spell was a long one, for as soon as he 
stretched himself out on the ground he was asleep from 
actual exhaustion, and did not awaken until the sun was 
just setting, and then he saw that, hard as his troubles had 
been before, they were about to become, or in fact had be- 
come, worse. 

He had paid no attention to his bundles when he lay 
down, and when he awoke he was puzzled to make out 
what it was that was strewn around the ground so thickly. 

He had looked at it but a very short time when he saw 
that it was what had been the lunch he had carried so far. 
After having had the sad experience of losing his money 
he understood very readily that the old monkey had taken 
the lunch while he slept, and had amused himself by picking 
it apart into the smallest particles possible, and then strewn 
them around on the ground where he now 6aw them. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


243 


Toby looked at them in almost speechless surprise, and 
then he turned to where the old monkey lay, apparently 
asleep ; but as the boy watched him intently, he could see 
that the cunning animal was really watching him out of 
one half-closed eye. 

“Now you have killed us, Mr. Stubbs,” wailed Toby. 
“We never can find our way out of here; an’ now we 
hain’t got anything to eat, and by to-morrow we shall be 
starved to death. Oh dear! wasn’t you bad enough when 
you threw all the money away, so you had to go an’ do 
this just when we was in awful trouble ?” 

Mr. Stubbs now looked up as if he had just been awak- 
ened by Toby’s grief, looked around him leisurely as if to 
see what could be the matter, and then, apparently seeing 
for the first time the crumbs that were lying around on the 
ground, took up some and examined them intently. 

“Now don’t go to makin’ believe that you don’t know 
how they come there,” said Toby, showing anger toward 
his pet for the first time. “You know it was you who did 
it, for there wasn’t any one else here, an’ you can’t fool me 
by lookin’ so surprised.” 

It seemed as if the monkey had come to the conclusion 
that his little plan of ignorance wasn’t the most perfect suc- 
cess, for he walked meekly toward his young master, climb- 
ed up on his shoulder, and sat there kissing his ear, or look- 


244 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

ing down into his eyes, until the boy could resist the mute 
appeal no longer, but took him into his arms and hugged 
him closely as he said, 

“ It can’t be helped now, I s’pose, an’ we shall have to 
get along the best way we can ; but it was awful wicked 
of you, Mr. Stubbs, an’ I don’t know what we’re going to 
do for something to eat.” 

While the destructive fit was on him the old monkey 
had not spared the smallest bit of food, but had picked 
everything into such minute shreds that none of it could be 
gathered up, and everything was surely wasted. 

While Toby sat bemoaning his fate, and trying to make 
out what was to be done for food, the darkness, which had 
just begun to gather when he first awoke, now commenced 
to settle around, and he was obliged to seek for some con- 
venient place in which to spend the night before it be- 
came so dark as to make the search impossible. 

Owing to the fact that he had slept nearly the entire 
afternoon, and also rendered wakeful by the loss he had 
just sustained, Toby lay awake on the hard ground, with 
the monkey on his arm, hour after hour, until all kinds of 
fancies came to him, and in every sound feared he heard 
some one from the circus coming to capture him, or some 
wild beast intent on picking his bones. 

The cold sweat of fear stood out on his brow, and he 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


245 


hardly dared to breathe, much more to speak, lest the sound 
of his voice should betray his whereabouts, and thus bring 
his enemies down upon him. The minutes seemed like 
hours, and the hours like days, as he lay there, listening 
fearfully to every one of the night-sounds of the forest ; and 
it seemed to him that he had been there very many hours 
when at last he fell asleep, and was thus freed from his fears. 

Bright and early on the following morning Toby was 
awake, and as he came to a realizing sense of all the dan- 
gers and trouble that surrounded him he was disposed to 
give way again to his sorrow ; but he said resolutely to him- 
self, “ It might be a good deal worse than it is, an’ Mr. 
Stubbs an’ I can get along one day without anything to eat ; 
an’ perhaps by night we shall be out of the woods, an’ then 
what we get will taste good to us.” 

He began his walk — which possibly might not end that 
day — manfully, and his courage was rewarded by soon reach- 
ing a number of bushes that were literally loaded down with 
blackberries. From these he made a hearty meal, and the 
old monkey fairly revelled in them, for he ate all he possibly 
could, and then stowed away enough in his cheeks to make 
a good-sized luncheon when he should be hungry again. 

Refreshed very much by his breakfast of fruit, Toby 
again started on his journey with renewed vigor, and the 
world began to look very bright to him. He had not 


246 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

thought that he might find berries when the thoughts of 
starvation came into his mind, and now that his hunger 
was satisfied he began to believe that he might possibly be 
able to live, perhaps for weeks, in the woods solely upon 
what he might find growing there. 

Shortly after he had had breakfast he came upon a 
brook, which he thought was the same upon whose banks 
he had encamped the first night he spent in the woods, 
and, pulling off his clothes, he waded into the deepest part, 
and had a most refreshing bath, although the water was 
rather cold. 

Not having any towels with which to dry himself, he 
was obliged to sit in the sun until the moisture had been 
dried from his skin and he could put his clothes on once 
more. Then he started out on his walk again, feeling 
that sooner or later he would come out all right. 

All this time he had been travelling without any guide 
to tell him whether he was going straight ahead or around 
in a circle, and he now concluded to follow the course of 
the brook, believing that that would lead him out of the 
forest some time. 

During the forenoon he walked steadily, but not so fast 
that he would get exhausted quickly, and when by the 
position of the sun he judged that it was noon he lay down 
on a mossy bank to rest. 


Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


247 


He was beginning to feel sad again. He had found 
no more berries, and the elation which had been caused 
by his breakfast and his bath was quickly passing away. 
The old monkey was in a tree almost directly above his 
head, stretched out on one of the limbs in the most con- 
tented manner possible; and as Toby watched him, and 
thought of all the trouble he had caused by wasting the 
food, thoughts of starvation again came into his mind, and 
he believed that he should not live to see Uncle Daniel 
again. 

Just when he was feeling the most sad and lonely, and 
when thoughts of death from starvation were most vivid 
in his mind, he heard the barking of a dog, which sounded 
close at hand. 

His first thought was that at last he was saved, and he 
was just starting to his feet to shout for help, when he 
heard the sharp report of a gun and an agonizing cry 
from the branches above, and the old monkey fell to the 
ground with a thud that told he had received his death- 
wound. 

All this had taken place so quickly that Toby did not 
at first comprehend the extent of the misfortune which 
had overtaken him; but a groan from the poor monkey, 
as he placed one little brown paw to his breast, from 
which the blood was flowing freely, and looked up into 


248 


Toby Tyler ; or, 

his master’s face with a most piteous expression, showed 
the poor little boy what a great trouble it was which had 
now come. 

Poor Toby uttered a loud cry of agony, which could not 
have been more full of anguish had he received the ball 
in his own breast, and, flinging himself by the side of the 
dying monkey, he gathered him close to his breast, regard- 
less of the blood that poured over him, and stroking ten- 
derly the little head that had nestled so often in his bosom, 
said, over and over again, as the monkey uttered short 
moans of agony, “ Who could have been so cruel ? — who 
could have been so cruel ?” 

Toby’s tears ran like rain down his face, and he kissed 
his dying pet again and again, as if he would take all the 
pain to himself. 

“ Oh, if you could only speak to me !” he cried, as he 
took one of the poor monkey’s paws in his hand, and, 
finding that it was growing cold with the chill of death, 
put it on his neck to warm it. “How I love you, Mr. 
Stubbs ! An’ now you’re goin’ to die an’ leave me ! Oh, 
if I hadn’t spoken cross to you yesterday, an’ if I hadn’t 
a’most choked you the day that we went to the skeleton’s 
to dinner! Forgive me for ever bein’ bad to you, won’t 
you, Mr. Stubbs ?” 

As the monkey’s groans increased in number but dimin* 



“HOW I LOVE YOU, MR. STUBBS!” 





Ten Weeks with a Circus . 251 

ished in force Toby ran to the brook, filled his hands with 
water, and held it to the poor animal’s month. 

He lapped the water quickly, and looked up with a hu 
man look of gratitude in his eyes, as if thanking his master 
for that much relief. Then Toby tried to wash the blood 
from his breast; but it flowed quite as fast as he could 
wash it away, and he ceased his efforts in that direction, 
and paid every attention to making his friend and pet 
more comfortable. He took off his jacket and laid it on 
the ground for the monkey to lie upon ; picked a quantity 
of large green leaves as a cooling rest for his head, and 
then sat by his side, holding his paws, and talking to him 
with the most tender words his lips — quivering with sorrow 
as they were — could fashion. 


252 


Toby Tyler ; or , 


Chapter XX. 

HOME AND UNCLE DANIEL. 

EAN WHILE the author of all this misery had 
come upon the scene. He was a young man, 
whose rifle and well-filled game-bag showed that 
he had been hunting, and his face expressed the 
liveliest sorrow for what he had so unwittingly done. 

“ I didn’t know 1 was firing at your pet,” he said to Toby 
as he laid his hand on his shoulder and endeavored to make 
him look up. “ I only saw a little patch of fur through the 
trees, and, thinking it was some wild animal, I fired. For- 
give me, won’t you, and let me put the poor brute out of 
his misery ?” 

Toby looked up fiercely at the murderer of his pet and 
asked, savagely, “ Why don’t you go away % Don’t you see 
that you have killed Mr. Stubbs, an’ you’ll be hung for 
murder ?” 

“ I wouldn’t have done it under any circumstances,” said 
the young man, pitying Toby’s grief most sincerely. “ Come 
away, and let me put the poor thing out of its agony.” 




Ten Weeks with a Circus. 253 

“ How can you do it ?” asked Toby, bitterly. “ He’s dying 
already.” 

“ I know it, and it will be a kindness to put a bullet 
through his head.” 

If Toby had been big enough perhaps there might 
really have been a murder committed, for he looked 
up at the man who so coolly proposed to kill the poor 
monkey after he had already received his death -wound 
that the young man stepped back quickly, as if really 
afraid that in his desperation the boy might do him some 
injury. 

“Go ’way off,” said Toby, passionately, “an’ don’t ever 
come here again. You’ve killed all I ever had in this world 
of my own to love me, an’ I hate you — I hate you !” 

Then, turning again to the monkey, he put his hands on 
each side of his head, and, leaning down, kissed the little 
brown lips as tenderly as a mother would kiss her child. 

The monkey was growing more and more feeble, and 
when Toby had shown this act of affection he reached up 
his tiny paws, grasped Toby’s finger, half -raised himself 
from the ground, and then with a convulsive struggle fell 
back dead, while the tiny fingers slowly relaxed their hold 
of the boy’s hand. 

Toby feared that it was death, and yet hoped that he 
was mistaken; he looked into the half -open, fast -glazing 


254 


Toby Tyler ; or> 

eyes, put his hand over his heart, to learn if it were still 
beating; and getting no responsive look from the dead eyes, 
feeling no heart-throbs from under that gory breast, he 
knew that his pet was really dead, and flung himself by 
his side in all the childish abandonment of grief. 

He called the monkey by name, implored him to look at 
him, and finally bewailed that he had ever left the circus, 
where at least his pet’s life was safe, even if his own back 
received its daily flogging. 

The young man, who stood a silent spectator of this pain- 
ful scene, understood everything from Toby’s mourning. 
He knew that a boy had run away from the circus, for 
Messrs. Lord and Castle had stayed behind one day, in the 
hope of capturing the fugitive, and they had told their own 
version of Toby’s flight. 

For nearly an hour Toby lay by the dead monkey’s side, 
crying as if his heart would break, and the young man 
waited until his grief should have somewhat exhausted it- 
self, and then approached the boy again. 

“ Won’t you believe that I didn’t mean to do this cruel 
thing?” he asked, in a kindly voice. “And won’t you be- 
lieve that I would do anything in my power to bring your 
pet back to life ?” 

Toby looked at him a moment earnestly, and then said, 
slowly, “ Yes, I’ll try to.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


2 55 

* Now will you come with me, and let me talk to you ? 
for I know who you are, and why you are here.” 

“ How do you know that ?” 

“ Two men stayed behind after the circus had left, and 
they hunted everywhere for you.” 

“ I wish they had caught me,” moaned Toby; “ I wish they 
had caught me, for then Mr. Stubbs wouldn’t be here dead.” 

And Toby’s grief broke out afresh as he again looked at 
the poor little stiff form that had been a source of so much 
comfort and joy to him. 

“ Try not to think of that now, but think of yourself, and 
of what you will do,” said the man, soothingly, anxious to 
divert Toby’s mind from the monkey’s death as much as 
possible. 

“ I don’t want to think of myself, and I don’t care what 
I’ll do,” sobbed the boy, passionately. 

“ But you must ; you can’t stay here always, and I will 
try to help you to get home, or wherever it is you want to 
go, if you will tell me all about it.” 

It was some time before Toby could be persuaded to 
speak or think of anything but the death of his pet ; but the 
young man finally succeeded in drawing his story from 
him, and then tried to induce him to leave that place and 
accompany him to the town. 

“ I can’t leave Mr. Stubbs,” said the boy, firmly ; “ he 


256 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

never left me the night I got thrown out of the wagon an : 
he thought I was hurt.” 

Then came another struggle to induce him to bury his 
pet ; and finally Toby, after realizing the fact that he could 
not carry a dead monkey anywhere with him, agreed to it ; 
but he would not allow the young man to help him in any 
way, or even to touch the monkey’s body. 

He dug a grave under a little fir-tree near by, and 
lined it with wild flowers and leaves, and even then hesi- 
tated to cover the body with the earth. At last he be- 
thought himself of the fanciful costume which the skel- 
eton and his wife had given him, and in this he care- 
fully wrapped his dead pet. He had not one regret at 
leaving the bespangled suit, for it was the best he could 
command, and surely nothing could be too good for Mr. 
Stubbs. 

Tenderly he laid him in the little grave, and, covering 
the body with flowers, said, pausing a moment before he 
covered it over with earth, and while his voice was choked 
with emotion, “Good-bye, Mr. Stubbs, good-bye! I wish 
it had been me instead of you that died, for I’m an awful 
sorry little boy now that you’re dead !” 

Even after the grave had been filled, and a little mound 
made over it, the young man had the greatest difficulty to 
persuade Toby to go with him ; and when the boy did oon- 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


257 


sent to go at last he walked very slowly away, and kept 
turning his head to look back just so long as the little 
grave could be seen. 

Then, when the trees shut it completely out from sight, 
the tears commenced again to roll down Toby’s cheeks, and 
he sobbed out, “ I wish I hadn’t left him. Oh, why didn’t 
I make him lie down by me ? an’ then he’d be alive now ; 
an’ how glad he’d be to know that we was getting out of 
the woods at last !” 

But the man who had caused Toby this sorrow talked to 
him about other matters, thus taking his mind from the 
monkey’s death as much as possible, and by the time the 
boy reached the village he had told his story exactly as it 
was, without casting any reproaches on Mr. Lord, and giv- 
ing himself the full share of censure for leaving his home 
as he did. 

Mr. Lord and Mr. Castle had remained in the town but 
one day, for they were told that a boy had taken the night 
train that passed through the town about two hours after 
Toby had escaped, and they had set off at once to act on 
that information. 

Therefore Toby need have no fears of meeting either of 
them just then, and he could start on his homeward journey 
in peace. 

The young man who had caused the monkey’s death 
17 


Toby Tyler ; or. 


25 * 

tried first to persuade Toby to remain a day or two with 
him, and, failing in that, he did all he could toward get- 
ting the boy home as quickly and safely as possible. He 
insisted on paying for his ticket on the steamboat, although 
Toby did all he could to prevent him, and he even accom- 
panied Toby to the next town, where he was to take the 
steamer. 

He had not only paid for Toby’s ticket, but he had paid 
for a state-room for him ; and when the boy said that he 
could sleep anywhere, and that there was no need of such 
expense, the man replied, “Those men who were hunting 
for you have gone down the river, and will be very likely to 
search the boat, when they discover that they started on the 
wrong scent. They will never suspect that you have got a 
state-room; and if you are careful to remain in it during 
the trip, you will get through safely.” 

Then, when the time came for the steamer to start, the 
young man said to Toby, “Now, my boy, you won’t feel 
hard at me for shooting the monkey, will you? I would 
have done anything to have brought him to life ; but, as I 
could not do that, helping you to get home was the next 
best thing I could do.” 

“I know you didn’t mean to shoot Mr. Stubbs,” said 
Toby, with moistening eyes as he spoke of his pet, “an’ 
I’m sorry I said what I did to you in die woods.” 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 


259 


Before there was time to say any more the warning 
whistle was sounded, the plank pulled in, the great wheels 
commenced to revolve, and Toby was really on his way to 
Uncle Daniel and Guilford. 

It was then but five o’clock in the afternoon, and he 
could not expect to reach home until two or three o’clock 
in the afternoon of the next day ; but he was in a tremor 
of excitement as he thought that he should walk through 
the streets of Guilford once more, see all the boys, and go 
home to Uncle Daniel. 

And yet, whenever he thought of that home, of meeting 
those boys, of going once more to all those old familiar 
places, the memory of all that he had planned when he 
should take the monkey with him would come into his 
mind and damp even his joy, great as it was. 

That night he had considerable difficulty in falling asleep, 
but did finally succeed in doing so; and when he awoke 
the steamer was going up the river, whose waters seemed 
like an old friend, because they had flowed right down past 
Guilford on their way to the sea. 

At each town where a landing was made Toby looked 
eagerly out on the pier, thinking that by chance some one 
from his home might be there and he would see a fa- 
miliar face again. But all this time he heeded the advice 
given him and remained in his room, where he could see 


260 Toby Tyler ; or , 

and not be seen ; and it was well for him that he did so, foi 
at one of the landings he saw both Mr. Lord and Mr. Castle 
come on board the boat. 

Toby’s heart beat fast and furious, and he expected every 
moment to hear them at the door demanding admittance, 
for it seemed to him that they must know exactly where he 
was secreted. 

But no such misfortune occurred. The men had evi- 
dently only boarded the boat to search for the boy, for they 
landed again before the steamer started, and Toby had 
the satisfaction of seeing their backs as they walked away 
from the pier. It was some time before he recovered 
from the fright which the sight of them gave him; but 
when he did his thoughts and hopes far outstripped the 
steamer which, it seemed, was going so slowly, and he 
longed to see Guilford with an impatience that could 
hardly be restrained. 

At last he could see the spire of the little church on the 
hill, and when the steamer rounded the point, affording a 
full view of the town, and sounded her whistle as a signal 
for those on the shore to come to the pier, Toby could hard- 
ly restrain himself from jumping up and down and shout- 
ing in his delight. 

He was at the gang-plank ready to land fully five minutes 
before the steamer was anywhere near the wharf, and when 


Ten Weeks with a Circus . 261 

he recognized the first face on the pier what a happy boy 
he was ! 

He was at home ! The dream of the past ten weeks was 
at length realized, and neither Mr. Lord nor Mr. Castle had 
any terrors for him now. 

He ran down the gang-plank before it was ready and 
clasped every boy he saw there round the neck, and would 
have kissed them, if they had shown an inclination to let 
him do so. 

Of course he was overwhelmed with questions, but before 
he would answer any he asked for Uncle Daniel and the 
others at home. 

Some of the boys ventured to predict that Toby would 
get a jolly good whipping for running away, and the only 
reply which the happy Toby made to that was, 

“ I hope I will, an’ then I’ll feel as if I had kinder paid 
for runnin’ away. If Uncle Dan’l will only let me stay 
with him again he may whip me every mornin’, an’ I won’t 
open my mouth to holler.” 

The boys were impatient to hear the story of Toby’s trav- 
els, but he refused to tell it them, saying, 

“ I’ll go home ; an’ if Uncle Dan’l forgives me for bein’ 
so wicked I’ll sit down this afternoon an’ tell you all you 
want to know about the circus.” 

Then, far more rapidly than he had run away from it, 


262 


Toby Tyler ; or , 

Toby ran toward the home which he had called his ever 
since he could remember, and his heart was full almost to 
bursting as he thought that perhaps he would be told that 
he had forfeited all claim to it, and that he could never 
more call it “ home ” again. 

When he entered the old familiar sitting-room Uncle 
Daniel was seated near the window, alone, looking out 
wistfully — as Toby thought — across the fields of yellow 
waving grain. 

Toby crept softly in, and, going up to the old man, 
knelt down and said, very humbly, and with his whole soul 
in the words, “ Oh, Uncle Dan’l ! if you’ll only forgive me 
for bein’ so wicked an’ runnin’ away, an’ let me stay here 
again — for it’s all the home I ever had — I’ll do everything 
you tell me to, an’ never whisper in meetin’ or do anything 
bad.” 

And then he waited for the words which would seal his 
fate. They were not long in coming. 

“ My poor boy,” said Uncle Daniel, softly, as he stroked 
Toby’s refractory red hair, “my love for you was greater 
than I knew, and when you left me I cried aloud to the 
Lord as if it had been my own flesh and blood that had 
gone afar from me. Stay here, Toby, my son, and help to 
support this poor old body as it goes down into the dark 
valley of the shadow of death ; and then, in the bright light 



UNCLE DANIEL S BLESSING. 





Ten Weeks with a Circus. 


265 

of that glorious future, Uncle Daniel will wait to go with 
you into the presence of Him who is ever a father to the 
fatherless.” 

And in Uncle Daniel’s kindly care we may safely leave 
Toby Tyler. 


THE END* 








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THE RED AXE. By S. R. Crockett. Illus- 
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PETER IBBETSON. By George du Mau- 
rier. Illustrated. 

THE PRINCESS ALINE. By Richard 
Harding Davis. Illustrated. 

JUPITER LIGHTS. By Constance Feni- 

MORE WOOLSON. 

ANNE. By Constance Fenimore Woolson. 
THE BREADWINNERS. Anonymous. 


HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid , 
to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico on receipt 
of the price. 




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